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A pre-K education benefits everyone in the community!

Teachers notice that children who have participated in high quality pre-K programs enter kindergarten with skills such as knowing the correct way to hold a book, recognizing their written names, and following directions. They also have developed social skills that enable them to get along with their peers.  

Registration is now open for the 2024-2025 school year. All children residing in Mecklenburg County who will be four years old on or before August 31, 2024 are eligible. Find out what you need to apply by visiting the Enrollment page on our website.

Is your child not old enough for pre-K?

You can sign up to be notified when registration opens for your child's school year. Visit our Future MECK Pre-K Student Page to register.

Here's what one of our parents had to say about their experience with MECK pre-K:

My foster son Daniel has been attending the South Point location this past year, his teachers are Ms. Johnson and Ms. Fowler. I just wanted to share a little of his story and let you know how AMAZING his teachers have been. He was born with a rare heart defect and has needed 3 open heart surgeries, last summer was his 3rd and he recovered so well! Our adoption social worker told me about MECK Pre-K and encouraged me to look into it for him. I was very nervous about putting him into school as you can imagine but we also wanted him to have as normal of a life as possible and have friends his age. Having the 1st meeting in our home was a huge encouragement to me, they made me feel comfortable about our decision and we talked about his situation in greater depth. They have done such a great job communicating with me during the year and he has thrived in their class. I just wanted to share they have gone above and beyond and he LOVES his teachers. They adore him and we are so thankful this year has gone so well for him! I just wanted to share what a wonderful experience we have had through the MECK Pre-k program.

-Charlene Duncan

Parents! we would love to hear from you. How is MECK Pre-k assisting in your child's development? share your story on our Testimonial Page!

MECK Pre-K in the Classroom

Here are a few highlights from some of our MECK Pre-K classrooms over the past few weeks.

Students have been learning all about bugs this month! Look at these little explorers dressing up in their bug catching outfits.

Students worked on their artistic skills and painted ladybugs.

A parent visited one of our classrooms to talk about the life cycle of bees.

Help Spread the Word

About MECK Pre-K!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn and share our posts! You can find even more ways to talk about MECK Pre-K on our Partner Toolkit Page.

Help Spread the Word About MECK Pre-K! 

If you're part of an organization whose employes, customers, or clients would benefit from high-quality pre-K, please help us spread the word by using our partner toolkit! This convenient toolkit has downloadable posters, graphics, screen savers, social media content, bookmarks, videos, and more – even coloring pages for kids! Visit https://meckprek.org/partner-toolkit/  

Week of The Young Child

April 6-12 we recognized the Week of the Young Child™, an annual celebration of early learning, young children, their teachers, families, and communities led by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Here are some fun ways we celebrated!

•  Music Monday: Singing, dancing, celebrating, and learning. Through music, children develop language and literacy skills – all while having fun and being active!
• Tasty Tuesday: Cooking together and connecting math with literacy skills and science while introducing ways to incorporate healthy habits into children’s lifestyles. 
• Work Together Wednesday: When children build together, they experience teamwork and develop their social and early literacy skills.
• Artsy Thursday: Children develop creativity, social skills and fine motor skills with open-ended art projects where they can make choices, use their imaginations, and create with their hands.
• Family Friday: Sharing family stories. Engaging and celebrating families is at the heart of supporting our youngest learners. NAEYC applauds the role of family members as young children’s first and most important teachers.

Make sure to join our social media channels to see how our classrooms will be participating in Week of the Young Child.

Celebrate Children's Day with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library at ImagineOn

Celebrate a fun-filled day with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library at ImaginOn on Saturday, April 27th from 9am to 12pm.

National Child Abuse Prevention Month

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and on March 28th, members of Smart Start, including MECK Pre-K, gathered to attend the kick off event held by Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte to plant pinwheels to bring awareness to families and communities to work together to prevent child abuse.

Pinwheels are the national symbol for child abuse prevention. If you see something, say something. It is up to all of us in the community to speak up when we see something that may need to be reported. To report child abuse or human trafficking, please call the 24-hour HELP Line at 980-31-HELPS (4-3577)

National Day of

Here are some upcoming National Day ofs where you can do an activity with your child! tag @meckprek on social media so we can see how you participated!

• April 29th- International Day of Dance
• May 3rd- Sun Day
• May 6th-10th- Teacher Appreciation Week
• May 27th- Memorial Day
• May 30th- National Day of Creativity