2017 Recipients – Excellence in Early Childhood Education

Certificate of Excellence

Certificate of Excellence Recipients

British Columbia

Caren Eigenmann

Caren Eigenmann

Caren Eigenmann started a garden with her students to contribute to a local foodbank and to teach her children about those less fortunate. She inspires a wonder of nature and a curiosity about differences between people and cultures. Her curriculum emerges from what her students are curious about, and she uses their interests to create special activities and to build playscapes for exploration.

Manitoba

Patricia Furman

Patricia Furman

Love and passion fuels Patricia Furman who dedicated her career to working with children with special needs. Patricia works with physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists to help develop curriculum for each individual child. These innovative and inclusive programs help improve her students' cognitive, language and motor skills. She works cooperatively with families and the community in order to "learn and grow together".

Nova Scotia

Sarah Marshall

Sarah Marshall

Have you ever thought of using your head to paint? Sarah Marshall has. Every day is an exciting new journey as this educator guides her students to explore their creative sides. Embracing a Reggio-approach, she uses open-ended questions and collaborates with students on projects to make their visions come to life, allowing them to express themselves creatively.

Ontario

Sabrina Rehman

Sabrina Rehman

Engineer turned educator, Sabrina Rehman pioneers an innovative and holistic STEM-based program, inspiring her children to see and explore even the most abstract concepts. Sabrina's STEM program has students classifying gems and rocks, preserving leaves and racing marbles. In her Makerspace, students have designed and engineered creations like Rob the recycling robot, who helps care for the environment.

Yukon

Erin Pauls

Erin Pauls

A hunter and fisher, Erin Pauls believes that children learn best in the outdoors. She encourages cultural opportunities through rich reciprocal relationships with Elders and the community. Erin also personally facilitated traditional dancing, as well as drum, rattle, and regalia making. Additionally she developed a program titled "handle with care", a parenting program that promotes children's mental health.

View all recipients

Certificate of Achievement

Certificate of Achievement Recipients

British Columbia

Carrie Nahorney

Carrie Nahorney

Innovation is not costly, prescriptive or complicated for this educator who takes inspiration from the world around her – or an artist of the month – to create endless opportunities to learn through play.


Melanie Walters

Melanie Walters

An advocate for nature-based risky play, and a naturalist at heart, this educator sees exploration as foundational in learning opportunities and self-expression.


Andrea Wilson

Andrea Wilson

A new tree, a river full of salmon, or a bear cave – "queen of dress up" creates innovative spaces for exploration and intuitively supports the most vulnerable families in respectful ways.


Nita Pedersen

Nita Pedersen

Veteran educator understands each family's diverse needs and sees each child as a competent and unique individual, capable of things he or she has yet to even imagine.

Manitoba

Lisa McClory

Lisa McClory

A beekeeper in a hive of busy bees, this educator creatively makes use of natural and open-ended materials like leaves, branches, rocks or gems to stimulate interest and create learning opportunities for each individual child.

New Brunswick

Stéphanie Haché

Stéphanie Haché

This educator turns her classroom into an Imaginarium – all ideas are possible. She makes the children travel by using their creativity and reveals the world to them.


Julie Hachey

Julie Hachey

This francophone educator in a minority setting encourages the children to develop a sense of belonging and to discover the possibilities open to them in French.

Nova Scotia

Sara Lordly

Sara Lordly

From jungle safaris to firefighting missions, this educator believes in building from children’s interests to provide a supportive environment that will promote future success.

Ontario

Tanya Farzaneh

Tanya Farzaneh

It's more than just paint: for this Reggio-inspired educator, it's an opportunity to catch a glance of "the competent capable child" in a space with no limits – a space to feel free, express and explore.

Saskatchewan

Denise Skuce

Denise Skuce

International mud day or camping excursions to the river bank, this educator lets children be children as they discover, question and wonder about the world around them.

View all recipients