Gen Z Teacher Has Unique Way of Teaching Kindergarten Class About Money

A kindergarten teacher has gone viral on social media after sharing how she uses a singalong to help her students learn all about money.

Quatashia Witherspoon, 26, often gets creative when teaching her class, who are aged between 5 and 6 years old, and she never misses an opportunity to integrate music into their learning. Most recently, she taught her class a song called "If I had a penny," with the aim of helping them memorize the value of each coin.

Witherspoon, from South Carolina, told Newsweek that she originally came up with the song idea on her way home from work one day when "the original song by 50 Cent came on the radio." The beat came from the rapper's 2017 song, Best Friend, and the Generation Z kindergarten teacher added in her own lyrics to teach the class the difference between a nickel and a quarter.

She said: "I created the song to help my students count and identify money. In my class, we have a rewards system where students can earn pretend money to buy things that they like. These includes snacks, extra recess, as well as the opportunity to attend field trips.

"Music is definitely a great learning tool as it helps with memory. Sometimes I'll ask my students a question in class to anything we have a song for, and their response is the cutest thing ever. I believe repetition is extremely important for young developing brains, and what better way to do that than music?"

Music is integral to many aspects of our lives, and the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) suggests that it can be a great learning tool for children because it helps them build positive associations with the classroom.

The NCSSLE highlights several key studies which show that music enhances learning through language and improves the ability to communicate with others. For this reason, music not only creates a positive and lively classroom atmosphere, but it can also support learning in many ways.

Witherspoon's class already has a whole repertoire of catchy educational songs to sing along to, including one for the days of the week, one to cover all the seasons, one for nouns, and even one for the phonetics for letters. But she's not done yet, as she still has "a ton more to teach them."

Hopefully, the other songs will be equally as successful as this one, because when her students aren't that keen, they're sure to make their feelings clear.

"Their responses to my songs are very truthful. They will tell me if it's a hit or not, and the songs which get them moving are their absolute favorites," Witherspoon told Newsweek. "When I started posting educational content, my goal was to reach out to educators and parents and show them that we can make learning fun."

Witherspoon has certainly accomplished that, because after sharing the video of her song on TikTok (@quatashiaaa) the video went viral with more than 293,700 views and over 54,600 likes. Social media users have praised the teacher for making her class so entertaining and ensuring that she makes every lesson memorable for the students.

The post has gained more than 740 comments already, as one person wrote: "This song will always stick with them."

Another TikTok user joked: "A 50 Cent song to teach you about cents."

While another comment reads: "This teacher is sooo creative!! This is real teaching."

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