Article written by Ainsley Hall and published in The Journal on April 22, 2026, link to article HERE.
Berkeley County Schools’ Pre-K Program partnered with the Martinsburg Public Library to celebrate National Association for the Education of Young Children’s (NAEYC) Week of the Young Child by creating an art exhibit for families. Throughout the week, students could visit the library and see their own art displayed. On April 16, they hosted a special public viewing event to connect with parents and children.
The program was organized by Sara Wolfe, director of pre-k programs in Berkeley County. Throughout the week they had special themes to celebrate the Week of the Young Child. Several students submitted their work to the West Virginia Arts Alive exhibit in Charleston, an annual event that showcases arts education programming throughout the state. They were only able to submit five pieces, but Wolfe said it was hard to choose out of so many amazing projects. So she decided to create an art exhibit to celebrate Week of the Young Child which matched the 16th theme, Artsy Thursday.
“We were like,’Why don’t we showcase it right here, in our own town?’” Wolfe said. “Parents can come in and they can see and children can see without having to travel all the way to Charleston.”
They had 65 pieces displayed, including paintings, sculptures, LEGO builds and more all collected from Berkeley County School sites, headstart pre-k's and their collaborative childcare pre-k's. Wolfe said that art is an important part of the pre-k curriculum. Everyday children can pick the art center during center time, giving them the chance to develop new skills and have fun while they're learning.