Teachers

Our teachers love working at Rainbow as much as our kids love coming here. Rainbow's small size, low student-teacher ratio, and loving environment allow staff members to integrate their own strengths and interests while supporting our established curriculum. Children enjoy the benefit of being assigned to a small group according to age and development, while bonding and interacting with all teachers during daily activities. We are proud that many of our teachers have been with us for years.

Karen Peterson, Director

Karen brings enthusiasm, creativity, and a total of 24 years of professional child care experience to her role as Rainbow's director. She has been at the Center for 19 years, and has served as director for the past 11 years. She loves helping children to develop and discover their world. In addition to serving as director, she is a teacher for the oldest group, and thrives on capturing the kids' interests while working on skills including science, art, and kindergarten readiness.

There are many special things about Rainbow that keep her here, including the space, the abundance of equipment, the freedom to teach based on the group's interest, and the mixed ages format that allows for younger and older kids to learn from each other. Whether leading her group or working with the all the kids on a holiday program or a rainy-day activity, Karen keeps things running smoothly and helps continually evolve a curriculum that has been refined over the past two decades.

When not at Rainbow, Karen enjoys skiing (fast), hiking (everywhere), fishing (endlessly), and canoeing (lazily), all with her family. She also does mosaic glass work, beading, sewing, and volunteer work through her church. Karen has a 16-year-old son at Peak to Peak High School, and a one-year-old son.

Cheney Clounch, Teacher/Office Manager

Cheney has been with Rainbow for a total of 14 years, not including a six-year hiatus spent farming on the western front. Lucky for us, he returned eight years ago, and has been a fixture at Rainbow ever since. As office manager and fill-in teacher, Cheney brings a special mix of organization and pure silliness to our days. Always creative and artistic, Cheney spent time studying art in college, and now enjoys coming up with inventive and surprising activities such as filling the swimming pool in the middle of winter and going for a dip (of course, the pool is in the art room!). Among his favorite things about Rainbow are the many opportunities to learn from the kids, and the freedom that both teachers and students have to explore their world. First to arrive every morning, Cheney opens the school at seven a.m. and holds court over a "breakfast club" with the early birds.

In his spare time, Cheney enjoys working on his small farm and caring for his six horses, two dogs, two goats, three kittens, six ducks, two cockatiels, and a bunny named Trixie. Rainbow's official cowboy, Cheney also loves riding in rodeos!

Sarah Johnston, Assistant Director

Working with kids has always been Sarah's passion. She started working at Rainbow in 2004. In addition to serving as assistant director, Sarah is currently the teacher for our youngest group of 2 ½ -3 year-olds. Now in the process of getting her director certification, Sarah has been working with kids for over 13 years, including time spent as a nanny and working at a toddler center. She finds kids inspiring and energizing, and especially enjoys helping them discover their world and themselves. Her favorite activities involve getting creative and messy - whether baking with the kids, leading trips to the park, or working on art projects - and she frequently incorporates crafts and sensory skills into her lesson plans. At Rainbow, Sarah loves the good communication, sense of community among teachers and families, and most of all, the positive, happy energy throughout the Center.

When she's not working with kids or taking classes towards her certification, Sarah enjoys hiking, biking, creative projects, cooking, and reading.

Natalie Polenychko, Teacher

Our afternoon teacher, Natalie has been at Rainbow since May, 2007. Her lesson plans reflect her high energy and thoughtful demeanor. She loves any activity that leads to song and laughter, as well as the excitement in every day spent working with kids. She especially enjoys the community found at Rainbow - the team of teachers and the sense of caring that drives everything we do. She loves biking and exploring - and of course, working with children! Aside from being a teacher, Natalie is an artist and writer, and has written an inspirational book for both children and adults.