MONROE, Conn. (AP) The Newtown schools superintendent says teachers have prepared for a ``normal'' day as students from Sandy Hook Elementary School return to school today for the first time since a gunman killed 20 children and six staff.

Their original school is still being treated as a crime scene, so students are attending classes at a refurbished school in the neighboring town of Monroe.

Newtown Superintendent Janet Robinson says officials will be doing their best to make students feel at ease.

Yesterday, the students and their families attended an open house at their new school, which was formerly the Chalk Hill Middle School but renamed as the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Students received gift boxes and shared joyful reunions with teachers.

Parent Vinny Alvarez says he took advantage of an open house at his daughter's new school to thank a teacher who helped protect her class from a rampaging gunman.

Alvarez says the teacher, Courtney Martin, locked her classroom door and kept the children in a corner until it was safe to leave the building.