Save the Children launches mobile classroom, brings learning directly to communities

On a bright, sunny September day, Save the Children Head Start program officially opened its new mobile classroom and early learning bus with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday, Sept. 24, in Opelousas.

The mobile classroom is designed to bring essential educational resources to children in the area.

The bus is a renovated RV stocked with learning activities, books and materials. It will travel around Louisiana, serving Head Start and Early Head Start-aged children.

The Save the Children Head Program takes its mobile classroom and early learning bus to any area where it has a footprint. Those areas include Evangeline, Jefferson Davis, Natchitoches, Red River, De Soto Parish and St. Landry parishes.

Opening the mobile classroom and learning bus aims to provide all the resources necessary for children here to succeed.

“Children without early childhood education can be 18 months behind their peers who have childhood education, and sometimes they never catch up,” Johnnie Belle Chavis, program director for Louisiana Head Start, said.

According to Chavis, 90 percent of a child’s brain develops by age 6, and much of that happens before a child even steps into a classroom.

“Save the Children was very strategic in finding a mobile unit, and we took it and made it a classroom,” Chavis said.

The mobile classroom and early learning bus can serve up to eight children at a time. In the next couple of months, Save the Children's Head Start’s mobile classroom and early learning bus will be stationed at local libraries in and around the communities, making it easier for children and their families to use those resources to further their education.

Inside the learning bus is a play area, reading nook and outdoor learning and play area for larger groups. Chavis said members of the Head Start Program will be on hand in the mobile classroom and early learning bus to help the children develop.

One of those who was on hand to check out the mobile classroom and early learning bus was Sarah Pedonti, a member of the Save the Children Head Start Program. She said she was impressed with the bus and all it offered.

“It is so developmentally appropriate,” Pedonti said. “It's warm and homey. It's handicapped accessible, so I am just so impressed with what this will bring to communities.”

Pedonti said the mobile classroom and early learning bus can bring resources to children in rural communities, where it can be difficult to get their children to traditional centers.

Chavis said her hope with the mobile classroom and early learning bus is that it will give those who participate a step in the right direction.

“We hope they have the tools to enter kindergarten; they are kindergarten-ready,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Save the Children launches mobile classroom, brings learning directly to communities