The present study is based on the understanding of teaching as a relational evolutionary trait and Self-in-Relation theory (SiR); Jordan, Kaplan, Striver, Surrey, & Miller, 1991; Rodriguez & Fitzpatrick, 2014). It is guided by the Five Awarenesses of Teaching framework (Framework) and informed by the literature on trauma and crisis. This study builds on a qualitative study of pre-K teachers in ECE centers two years before COVID-19 using similar methods (Rodriguez et al, 2020). However, in the current study we examine pre-K teachers’ experiences during the first fourteen weeks of COVID-19-related school closures. The phenomenon explored has always been present in the lives of pre-K teachers, but it was exacerbated by COVID-19 This qualitative study aims to understand how pre-K teachers experienced the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in NYC, the epicenter of the virus in the United States during the spring of 2020. Without a qualitative study, we would never be able to understand the depth of the COVID-19 effects on teachers’ mental health and wellness and teacher-student relationships. (author abstract)