Rainbow Learning Circle

We love RLC! Karen Merchant and Jamie Ramos are the dynamic duo! You won’t find the love, attention or patience anywhere else! They are both so amazing with the children. They cook, bake, swing, go on walks to the local garden to measure their plants that they planted. They take monthly field trips, constantly painting, glueing, taping, cutting, molding clay… you won’t believe the amount of art my daughter brought home! One thing my husband and I loved the most was reading the script the teachers would write down throughout the day. Little conversations that would take place between two kids or what her painting is about. Another thing we loved… is Karen makes sure your childs voice is heard, this helped our daughter have a sense of control in her life. It’s just amazing what Karen and Jamie give each and every day to each and every child.

Rainbow Learning Circle is a dream come true! My son has attended for one year, and it has been the best possible T-​K /​arts enrichment experience we could imagine. The program admits children 4yo-​6yo and is play-​based with an arts and crafts focus. The teacher, Karen Merchant Yates, is an artist with a degree in education from Pacific Oaks and training in Reggio. Karen has a true heart for children and the children adore her in return. She takes up to 10 children and has an assistant, Jamie, who is also a delightful, loving teacher. Two families have recently moved away so there is space for more children right now! (February 2016) Children can attend part time or full time, as many days of the week as they want.
Karen Merchant Yates,

The children begin their day with morning rituals, and throughout the day they collaborate on projects (like building a puppet theater), take walks to a community garden, play outside on a beautiful, small campus, read stories, sing songs, paint, build clay sculptures … Truly a wonderful day! My son always looks forward to going to school and loves the friendships he’s made. We receive weekly communications and photographs from Karen, and she always has her door open for questions. Here’s an example from an email she sent this week: «We have been talking about creating a dragon mask, and about leading a dragon parade for the Chinese Lunar New Year’s celebration the first couple of weeks of February. We have also made puppets and begun stories related to the changing weather patterns we have recently experienced. The community garden changes and we have seen small sprouts are seen, worms, and grubs.»
More on Karen is copied below. Please don’t hesitate to PM me if you have any questions. Highly recommended!
Karen is an artist and teacher who works in early childhood and elementary school settings to make learning tangible through expressive materials and documentation of play and storytelling. She has brought clay to festivals (Festival of Childhood in Echo Park for the last 7 years, Lummis Day Festival) and puppet-​making to the Spirit of the Arroyo Festival in Highland Park. At preschools in Sta. Monica, Echo Park and Pasadena, students in her care experience the reggio-​emilia inspired commitment to the examination and exploration of a child’s daily life. Karen has been a teaching artist in visual arts in elementary schools for 18 years. She coordinated & taught the Trash for Teaching visual arts program for LAUSD and is teaching in LACMA’s Bing Education Outreach program. She is certified as: Parent Educator at the Echo Center, Teaching Artist in the Apprentice Program (TAAP) at the Music Center and Reggio Emilia programming Branches Atelier, Culver City. She holds a Site Supervisor child development credential from Cal. Board of Education, an MA in Human Development, Spec. Art Education, from Pacific Oaks College and a BFA in Filmmaking with honors from SF State University.