Tiny Visionaries

Our Teachers

Our director Shauna Scamaldo-Ricks, co-founder of Tiny Visionaries, has 14 years of experience working with children. She is extremely passionate and committed to the social-emotional, physical and cognitive development of children. Further, she recognizes that it is her responsibility to serve the diverse cultural needs of children and families through social justice and inclusivity, which is what led her to start her own program. It is her dream to foster a creative space where children feel safe, cultivate a sense of belonging, and are provided a nurturing environment where they can thrive and grow. She has her Associates Degree in Early Childhood Education and is in the process of receiving a degree in Business Management.

Our director Samantha Street, co-founder of Tiny Visionaries, has over ten years of experience working with children. She was inspired to start her own program because of her deep-rooted desire to build foundations for children that are strong in impenetrable and life-affirming values and morals that will later shape who they are and the experience they have with themselves, those around them, and our society at large. It is her belief that promoting healthy and whole development mentally, emotionally, and physically is just as important as the foundational knowledge children gain in their formative years and beyond. She has a Liberal Arts - Social and Behavioral Science Associates Degree, from Santa Monica College, where she graduated with honors and her certification in Early Childhood Education. Additionally, she has a BA in Child Development from Mount Saint Mary’s University.

We decided to continue our journey in education as directors of our own in-home daycare program, driven by our shared desire to continue our work in building strong, healthy and resilient foundations for the children we teach. We have known each other for almost twenty years and have worked together in a professional setting for seven. We are an incredible collaborative team, with unmatched qualifications and caring, passionate, and diverse leadership. Our experience as educators has equipped us with tools to handle wide-ranging situations, the ability to think on our feet, compassion and patience to span all possibilities, and most importantly, a love and acceptance for children from all backgrounds and abilities. Our dream for Tiny Visionaries is to create an atmosphere centered around empowerment, belonging, tolerance, and love with hopes that the children we care for and teach will become the model citizens and humans that we will look to in our future as leaders.

Testimonials

“Fantastic! We love teachers Shauna and Sam”

• Jonathan T

“Couldn’t be happier . ;)”

• Michelle T.

Philosophy

Our philosophy at Tiny Visionaries is rooted in the whole-child approach, supporting and nurturing all areas of children’s development and learning. This encompasses integrating play-based, Montessori-inspired ideals into a creative curriculum, allowing children the freedom to learn in ways they love while offering structured learning for thriving in their primary years and beyond. We aim to shape well-rounded, tolerant, kind, and loving individuals who are healthy mentally, physically, and emotionally. Our commitment is to provide an inclusive, safe, nurturing, and caring environment where all children have equal opportunities to learn, thrive, and grow. Our goal is to respect individuals from all backgrounds, abilities, and walks of life to ensure each child has the freedom to develop to their full potential.

Location

Tiny Visionaries is located in a welcoming and warm single family home in a quiet West Hollywood neighborhood.

We’ve designed our care environment with play and learning areas that allow children to explore various developmentally-appropriate activities based on their interests. Some of our favorite areas include our reading / cozy area (for literacy, relaxation, and respite), the music and movement area (for physical activity and cultural learning), and our dramatic play area (for self-expression and empathy).

Children will spend about half of their time outdoors between a mix of both our private yard and our local park and playground. We believe that connecting with nature, through play and exploration, allows children to gain deeper knowledge of themselves and the world. Further, we know that this connection encourages children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength.

At Tiny Visionaries, we want to provide an environment that supports the cognitive, social, and emotional growth of each child, in a way that is tailored to them.

About our program

Tiny Visionaries is dedicated to cultivating an environment that is loving, nurturing, safe, and inclusive; one that offers children opportunities for healthy growth and development. We welcome children and families of all races, creeds, religious backgrounds, and national origins. We promote tolerance, respect, acceptance and understanding of all individuals. It is our goal to build a foundation for every child that is strong in core values and morals. In doing so, we hope to help raise children who are more tolerant, more loving, more accepting and understanding; who will stand up for what they believe in, use their voices to support those whose are muted or unheard, and fight for things that pull at their heart strings; as we need more of this in our world.

Admissions

Join the Tiny Visionaries community in four easy steps:

1. Explore our website

We’ve provided information about our philosophies and offerings to help you decide if our program is the right fit for your child and family. Please be sure to ask as many clarifying questions as you feel necessary so that you may have as much information as possible to make the best decision for your child’s care.

2. Tour our program

We invite you to come and see what makes Tiny Visionaries unique! You can view our tour calendar to see if we’re currently hosting tours. If so, you can request or schedule a tour at the top of this page. If we are not currently hosting tours, you’ll see a “Request Info” button. Click that button and submit your information. Once we have your information, we will notify you when we start to host tours again in the future.

Please be advised that, due to COVID-19, we are only hosting virtual tours.

3. Submit an Enrollment Application

If you would like to enroll, please submit an application at www.wonderschool.com/tiny-visionaries-4819/apply – note that we require tours for all prospective families. Please do not submit an application if you have not visited the program.

4. Enroll

After reviewing your application, we’ll send an enrollment invitation. Upon accepting your invitation you’ll pay your enrollment fee, fill out enrollment documents and review and sign our Parent Handbook.