About Us
Rainbow Child Development Center was founded by Cheryl Mikel in August of 1998. Cheryl saw a great need for quality child care programs to prepare children for kindergarten and beyond. Once located inside of a church at 1566 Thomas Ave in St. Paul, Rainbow moved to a new home in March of 2012. At 605 Como Ave in St. Paul is a newly renovated facility complete with three classrooms, office space, child and handicap accessible bathrooms, and outdoor play areas for toddlers and preschoolers.
Our mission is to help each child reach his/her emotional, physical, and developmental growth to the fullest potential. We achieve this in a safe and loving environment that encourages creativity, imagination, and personal strength. It is our philosophy to first develop partnerships with families and trusting relationships between teachers, children, and parents. We appreciate and value cultural, family, and individual differences and embrace every opportunity to build a foundation for a lifelong love of learning.
We promote a multiculturally enriched learning environment. Cultural, ethnic, and personal differences are celebrated. The needs of each individual child are met through careful observation and planning. Our program offers activities that are large group and small group, quiet and active. Children participate in a predictable routine that allows them greater success and more learning throughout the day. Teachers complete thorough assessments of progress and this information is shared regularly and at parent-teacher conferences four times a year. To learn more about our curriculum and learning environment, click here.
Our mission is to help each child reach his/her emotional, physical, and developmental growth to the fullest potential. We achieve this in a safe and loving environment that encourages creativity, imagination, and personal strength. It is our philosophy to first develop partnerships with families and trusting relationships between teachers, children, and parents. We appreciate and value cultural, family, and individual differences and embrace every opportunity to build a foundation for a lifelong love of learning.
We promote a multiculturally enriched learning environment. Cultural, ethnic, and personal differences are celebrated. The needs of each individual child are met through careful observation and planning. Our program offers activities that are large group and small group, quiet and active. Children participate in a predictable routine that allows them greater success and more learning throughout the day. Teachers complete thorough assessments of progress and this information is shared regularly and at parent-teacher conferences four times a year. To learn more about our curriculum and learning environment, click here.
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Our teachers are dedicated to the success of children and families. Rainbow is proud to have a low staff turnover rate. Our teachers have over 50 years of combined experience with our program and nearly 300 training hours each year. Each staff person has a continuing education plan to ensure that our teaching standards reflect the most up to date research and best practices in our field. To learn more about our teachers, click here.
We believe that to positively impact the community, we must begin by positively influencing the lives of children. That is why we partner with multiple organizations in our neighborhood and beyond. We happily work with all county assistance programs and offer some need based scholarships to families in need. To learn more about our partnerships, click here. |
National Association for the Education of Young Children
Rainbow CDC is accredited through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). This is the highest quality standard for the care and education of young children and Rainbow joins less than 10% of all centers in the nation able to achieve NAEYC accreditation. Rainbow embraces NAEYC's 10 Program Standards and incorporates all of the high ideals of each standard into everyday practice. These include:
- Relationships
- Curriculum
- Teaching
- Assessment of Child Progress
- Health
- Teachers
- Families
- Community Relationships
- Physical Environment
- Leadership and Managemetn
Parent Aware
Rainbow CDC is a 4 Star Parent Aware program. Parent Aware is a Minnesota based quality rating organization that measures best practices in early child development.Early child development programs are ranked out of 4 stars, with 4 stars being the highest possible ranking. Parent Aware focuses its rating scale on 5 pillars:
- Family Partnerships
- Teaching Materials and Strategies
- Tracking Learning
- Teacher Training and Education
- Child Safety
Awards and Honors
Throughout the years, Rainbow CDC has been awarded numerous community impact awards because of its dedication to serving children and families in Minnesota. Some of these awards include:
- Frogtown Neighborhood Small Business of the Year 1998
- Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year 1998
- Frogtown Small Business of the Year 2002
- Participation in Project Early Kindergarten 2008-2012
- Paul and Sheila Wellstone Small Business of the Year 2010
- Participation in Minnesota Reading Corps 2010-Present
