Learning is supposed to be an adventure, designed to spark the imagination. That's just what's happening at the Early Learning Center in Mansfield Independent School District.
It's part pre-school, part children's museum. Each room isn't called a classroom but an experience.
There's an outer space room, complete with a rocket ship and down the hall.
Parker Smith's class is in the polar experience. He was quick to show his favorite thing, polar ice camping.
Once inside a tent, there were flashcards with different words, Parker could not only read all the words on sight but went a step further. "It’s a bee and a tree --- and they rhyme," said Smith.
Every toy, every game is placed here intentionally to promote learning.
The school opened last January and the results are already, well, soaring.
Carter In The Classroom
Focusing on unique things school districts are doing to help children succeed.
Teachers tell us students here are outperforming those from traditional Pre-K. Even economically disadvantaged students who spent half a year here were reading ahead of their peers in kindergarten.
"This is my first time to teach this, I love it," said teacher Shedera Morrison.
Students switch classrooms every two weeks and learn something new. Right now it's dinosaurs, which Jeffrey Owino knew a lot about. He told us the difference between carnivores and herbivores.
The school's unique learning environment has caught attention nationwide, with other districts looking at what Mansfield has done, and trying to replicate it in their schools.
For more information on Dr. Jandrucko Early Learners Academy, click here.
