BERLIN, Vt. -
Snowflakes were falling everywhere on this December day. Not only on the outside, but on the inside, too. Students, parents and teachers gathered at the Berlin Elementary School Thursday morning to make paper snowflakes.
The event was held to help the town of Newtown, Conn., recover from the recent school shooting. The Parent-Teacher Association in Newtown asked schools across the country to make paper snowflakes to decorate the new school building when the kids return to school. The effort had a dual purpose. First, to help Newtown heal, but also to help students in Berlin talk about what happened in Connecticut.
"It's really challenging to strike a balance for kids between giving the opportunities to process and talk about tragedies like this and not providing too much information, and art is always a great way to get children to talk and process what they need to process. So this was a great combination for us," said Chris Dodge, the principal of Berlin Elementary School.
The snowflakes will be mailed to Newtown, Conn., this Friday.
