I'm a first grade teacher and am worried about what to tell students in light of the horrible news in CT?

Get to school early tomorrow and seek out your principal for instruction and advice. All teachers and staff need to support each other and put out the same message to students.

I can share what I did when tragedy hit my class. I was teaching a split Gr. 3/4, and the mother of one of my students died. The kids found out at first recess and came in bawling. I had about 20 8- and 9-year-olds, and I could hardly keep from crying myself. We sat in a circle, and I let them feel their feelings for awhile, without imposing anything on them. After awhile, I asked if there was anything they'd like to say, and we went around the circle. They just said what was on their hearts, and I didn't try to answer any questions. I just agreed that they were big questions. Then I asked what they would like to do, to feel better. They came up with a list of suggestions, like taking a walk in the woods behind the school, painting cards and posters for the girl, praying, ... I wrote all the suggestions on the board. One by one we did them all, including the prayers. I wasn't sure if I would get in trouble for that, but I didn't care. By the end of the day, they had had a good cry and were looking more cheery, they had painted a pile of beautiful posters, and one girl thanked me for letting them have the day to express themselves. My main concern was to let them have whatever feelings they might have, without feeling that I had to soothe them or have the answers for them. Their own inner selves brought them back into balance by the end of the day, just by being allowed to express their own truths. If anything from that can help you, I'm glad to have made a difference. All the best!

It's hard with little kids. If I was a teacher, what will they ask?

Tell them that a bad accident happened, don't go into detail though.

Say I was one of your students and said:

"What happened the other day?"

You: "A bad thing done by a bad person."

Something like that.

You can ask the students what they heard about Friday and if they do, ask them what they know about it. Don't provide any false Information to them about the shooting. Make sure you tell your students that they're safe and how much you care about them so much.

It can bed difficult to talk to young kids about topics like this, but it's important that they know this so that they can understand why something scary is happening.

Don't bring it up. Children that young cannot process, nor should they attempt to process such an evil, horrific event. Doing so would tarnish their innocence, and could potentially ruin their childhood. Leave it to the parents

10,000 good things happened that day...and one very very bad thing

Focus on the good...it's teh only way to survive