Newtown Children Return to School After Sandy Hook Massacre

Out of all the soul-crushing images to come out of newtown, this one has a particularly devastating effect on countless folks checking their twitter and facebook feeds today. It's a letter to little... See More

Out of all the soul-crushing images to come out of newtown, this one has a particularly devastating effect on countless folks checking their twitter and facebook feeds today. It's a letter to little jack pinto laid to rest on monday that reads, you're my best friend. We had fun together. I will miss you. I will talk to you in my prayers. I love you. Signed john. Two more 6-year-olds were buried today while buses rolled and grown-ups grappled with how to get on with life and protect the survivors from even more nightmares. Here's abc's juju chang. Reporter: The hugs were a little tighter today as parents in newtown gently guided their kids back to school, back to their daily routines, surrounded by sadness and a stepped up police presence. Getting them back to a routine is the best thing, i think. Reporter: But the jittery town suffered a fresh scare as a threat shut down yet another newtown elementary school. Better safe than sorry. Reporter: But for karen dreyer's son logan, a sandy hook kindergartener, normal is still a long way off. She told abc's dan harris they're still in limbo as they await word on when classes resume. They wanted to go back to school. They wanted to be with their teachers. Their teachers wanted to see them. Reporter: The children, she says, are resilient but some parents were only pretending to be. It's scary, but I'm going to put on a brave face. We're going to march up to the door, say hello to his teacher and I'll walk away and then cry. It's just all so surreal. I'm sorry. I just can't -- it's all just a nightmare. Reporter: And the nightmare continues to play out at st. Rose of lima church th back-to-back funerals for two 6-year-olds. James mattioli loved doing yard work with his dad and cuddling up on the couch with his mom. Christa rekos says she still can't believe her daughter jessica, who loved horses and was about the get cowgirl boots for christmas, isn't coming home. Mourners at her funeral paid tribute. She was teaching her brother how to read and everything. Just a very giving child. Was just a very, very nice ceremony. Reporter:27-year-old victoria soto was remembered today for her heroism, for hiding students in closets, then trying to shield them from a hail of bullets. Vicky died a hero, she was protecting her children, which she loved very much. She didn't call them her students. She called them her kids. Reporter: Today her fellow teachers were still looking out for their students, preparing for the eventual return to class. Moving trucks passed the memorials that lined the roads here, hauling furniture and just about everything else from sandy hook elementary school to their new campus. Officials are working overtime here at chuck hill middle school in nearby monroe, connecticut. Inside, teachers and officials are working around the clock to recreate sandy hook elementary room by room with painstaking detail. Using photos taken inside the school, they're creating a carbon copy of each classroom from what was on the walls, right down to the crayon left in the desk. Exactly as it was friday when the school day was savagely cut short. But what if creating that exact environment only triggers the trauma again? It might for some kids. It might be a bit wedge. Reporter: Dr. Jamie howard is a child psychologist who specializes in post traumatic stress. We do try to expose kids to triggers of the trauma because avoiding triggers or avoiding things that remind kids of trauma, and grown-ups, too, just serves to maintain the anxiety. orter: THEY'RE RIPPING OUT Toilets designed for middle schoolers and installing new bathrooms better suited for grade schoolers, hoping to reopen after winter break. Why are they in such a hurry? It's really important to maintain routines as quickly as possible. That's actually very comforting and very reassuring to kids. Reporter: There are no rules on how to return a school to normal after such a heinous act. In kentucky, where three students were killed 15 years ago, heath high school opened the very next day. This rally represents a new beginning for columbine high school. Reporter: Columbine took four months to reopen after 12 people were gunned down and ten were injured. They demolished the library and replaced it with a sunny atrium. After a gunman killed 32 people at virginia tech, parts of campus went through extensive renovations and gradually reopened. But sandy hook is unprecedented, because the victims were so young. They make sense of things differently. They might be more clingy. They might regress more, so they might start sucking their thumb, for example. Reporter: The new campus is being outfitted with a new security system. Officials promised it will be the safest school in america. A pledge parents the use to reassure their children and themselves. For "nightline," I'm juju chang in newtown, connecticut.