NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) The children at the Sandy Hook Elementary school will not be returning to courses for another week, but representatives from the town, school district and local organizations are doing their most useful meanwhile to help keep them occupied carrying out a massacre at their school fourteen days ago.
The students have not attended school since a gunman killed 20 of their schoolmates and six people on Dec. 14. They're slated to return to another school next Thursday.
In the meantime, they've been treated to field trips, toy giveaways and some organized play time.
"A handful of the teachers have performed pizza parties," said Janet Robinson, Newtown's school superintendent. "Another met her young ones at the library so they would have just a little reading time together. The most critical factor has been joining the students back again to their teacher and their classmates."
The Newtown Youth Academy, a nonprofit sports center, opened its doors to all or any kids in town at no cost soon after the shooting. But from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. A week ago, the building's pitch industry, baseball and tennis courts, and giant inflatable barrier class were reserved just for Sandy Hook Elementary students.
There has been arts and crafts for the smaller children, along with face-paintings. Some celebrities, including two members of the Harlem Globetrotters and former University of Connecticut basketball star Tina Charles, likewise have stopped by to play with the children.
Seiko cool watches xmlns="" xmlns:apcm="" xmlns:apnm="" xmlns:o="">UConn's men's basketball team and its instructors made a Blancpain cheap watch trip to the school Thursday and played games with the kids, asked for pictures and signed autographs. "It was wonderful for us to help you to see some smiles on their faces and to pay some time with them," Coach Kevin Ollie said.
On Thursday evening, school buses were filling up at the Youth Academy for a vacation to Stamford and a more substantial complex, Chelsea Piers, which also has ice rinks and an internal children's pool, said academia owner Peter D'Amico. Activities celebrities, such as Brooklyn Nets forward Kris Humphries, in the offing to meet them there.
"The strategy was to get them far from the home, the tv and all the protection of this disaster and get them to a spot where children could only be kids," said D'Amico, an original youth coach in town.
University of Connecticut psychologist Julian Ford, who spent time therapy in Newtown in the initial days following the shooting, said it's necessary for the grieving process to include a store that lets children know that while things won't ever be the same, it's OK to appreciate life.
Rolex Fake Watches xmlns="" xmlns:apcm="" xmlns:apnm="" xmlns:o="">"They are all going to be thinking about what happened," he said. "That, however, is inevitable. But this gives them a chance to say, 'Life is holding on.' Nothing is going to be the same, but it's also continuous in ways that it must be."
Some students and their parents on Thursday toured the Chalk Hill school in Monroe, a middle school being reopened a few weeks for the Sandy Hook students. An open house is designed for Wednesday.
"Getting back into the college is much like getting back on the horse," Robinson said. "Some of the scariness is gone once that threshold is crossed by them. They are just therefore happy to see their teachers."
State police said they intend to maintain their contact Best Mens BMW Watch with the children to a minimum as they continue investigating the shooting.
"We surely don't wish to traumatize them any longer than they've been already traumatized," said Lt. T. John Vance, the department's spokesperson. "If (an appointment is) not required it will not be done. Our investigators is likely to make all those determinations."
In the meantime, Ford has encouraged parents to keep the kids involved in a standard trip regimen and deal with the tragedy as it pops up, as opposed to making it a center point of their lives.
David Connors, who has 8-year-old triplets who attend Sandy Hook, claimed he and his spouse have made play times with their friends, introduced the kids to see family for the holidays and participated in the school get-togethers and recreation events.
"That is been, I think, useful at least in the temporary just to sort of keep them performing factors, keep them seeing their friends and being nearby and talking to family," Connors said.
Todd Wood of Newtown has five young ones, the youngest age 4 and the earliest in school. His youngsters' violin teacher lost a child in the firing, and the family knows other subjects as well.
He said he's discovered that each child has reacted differently to the tragedy. He said he's not making the shooting the center of his family's life but is not pretending it didn't happen, either.
"We did Christmas, we had our lights here, we've attempted to produce things as typical as possible," he said. "But we also transpired to begin to see the memorials. I really do not need to shield them as a result. I want to let them grieve in their own way."
Ford stated that is balanced. He said kids may remember their friends because they start doing usual kid things.
Chris Wolcott, the sport's academy's operations manager, said the most effective section of obtaining the young ones at the center is that the tragedy is pushed aside, at least for a small while.
"A couple moments someone would fall a (in the facility's health center) and you'd hear a bang and there would be a kid who'd freeze for a second," he said. "But that may last a split-second. All of the time, every one just had a great time."
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Associated Press author John Christoffersen in New Haven, Conn., added to the report.