News

Since schools closed in March due to COVID-19, over 1.2 billion children have been displaced from classrooms globally. From a local perspective, this means many Mecklenburg County families have struggled to help their children adjust to distance learning. These difficulties include but certainly are not limited to transitioning to web-based learning, lack of one-on-one interaction, and of course, the general void of routines, classmates, teachers and materials.

Research suggests that online learning has been shown to increase retention of information, and takes less time, meaning the changes coronavirus have caused might be here to stay. But whether distance learning is a short or long-term scenario, one thing is clear: circumstances may change daily, but together we can remain strong for our county's most vulnerable children.

Now you may be asking yourself "What does this mean for our Pre-K students?"

For early childhood educators who promote play- or open-ended-based approaches to learning, going remote can be a particularly unnerving task for many reasons. Pre-K educators often act as facilitators, building upon children's natural curiosities. To inspire play, educators create spaces with resources that provoke children's engagement with each other and their surroundings.

That's where you come in.

By providing resources that meet young children's most basic distance learning needs, together we can help them thrive from home. Because we consider families as partners, they are important allies in supporting children's distance learning. However, parents need access to materials that may not be available within every home. These tangible resources are included in MECK Pre-K's Student Toolkit Wish List, such as child-size scissors, paper, pencils, crayons, markers, etc.

To support local families between July 12-19, Charlotteans are encouraged to Shop for GOOD and donate items from MECK Pre-K's Student Toolkit Wish List on Amazon. The best part is these items will be shipped directly to MECK Pre-K's door, so you know exactly where your donations are going.

Not all access is created equally, so we kindly ask that you consider the needs of our youngest learners during this year's Shop for GOOD opportunity.