Sandy Hook Elementary Students Return to School for First Time Since Shooting

Sandy Hook Elementary students will head back to class Thursday for the first time since shooter Adam Lanza opened fire on the school killing 20 children and six adults just three weeks ago.

When students return to classes Thursday it won't be in the same building as Lanza's rampage; for now the school has been moved to a re-purposed middle school in the neighboring city of Monroe. Some teachers reportedly even took pictures of their old classrooms to better prepare the new classrooms and offer their traumatized students some familiarity and comfort. Students' desks were also taken along to the new location, along with backpacks and other belongings that were forgotten in the midst of the tragedy.

Security will understandably be heightened when class resumes Thursday at Chalk Hill, which is located about six miles away from Sandy Hook. One Newtown councilman said the new school would be "the safest school in America." The community of Monroe is already showing support. Just across the street from Chalk Hill a large banner hangs on a white picket fence reading, "Welcome Sandy Hook Elementary!"

The town of Monroe has worked overtime these last three weeks to ready Chalk Hill, a former middle school, for its new pint-sized students, even going so far as to tear out bathrooms to make them more size-friendly, ABC News reported. Families have been coming in to check out the new school, and an open house is scheduled for Wednesday.

As children try to return to normalcy at the new school they'll receive some help from a familiar face; Sandy Hook's former principal Donna Page - who retired in 2010 - will return to her leadership role on an interim basis.

"I want parents and families enduring the loss of their precious children to know their loved ones are foremost in our hearts and minds as we move forward," Page wrote in a letter to parents. "Your strength and compassion has been, and will continue to be, an inspiration to me and countless others as we work to honor the memory of your precious children and our beloved staff.

The morning of Dec. 14, 20-year-old Adam Lanza reportedly shot his mother Nancy four times as she lay in bed, packed at least three of her guns, and then drove her car to the Connecticut K-4 elementary school, opening fire in two classrooms around 9:30 a.m., fatally shooting 20 children and six adults, police said. Police are still searching for a motive; witnesses said the shooter didn't utter a word. The attack was the second-deadliest shooting ever by a single gunman in U.S. history.

There were 15 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2012 alone, according to the Huffington Post.