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REBUILDING WORLDS: ONE BLOCK AT A TIME by Rebecca Santner (Editor's Note: This article was first published in the school magazine, Currents, after September 11, 2001.)

Will any early childhood teacher forget the moment on September 11th when news began to trickle into our classrooms about the events unfolding in New York City and Washington, DC? My first thoughts, as I began to sort through my list of friends and family, were for my dear friend, Ronnie Moskowitz, director of Washington Market School in Tribeca, whose preschool is located just six blocks from the World Trade Center.

Her students were in various stages of beginning their first day of the new school year at 8:45 a.m. that morning. Some were finding their cubbies; others were gathered on the street outside of the school, with their parents and caregivers, greeting their teachers. Still others were walking to school, when the roar of the first plane flying in low over their heads caused parents to throw themselves to the ground over their children. As the school's evacuation began, many were on the sidewalks leaving the school and so, heard and saw the second plane strike. The physical images of that day, experienced by these young children, are haunting and unimaginable.

Fortunately, all 240 children and their families from Washington Market School are physically safe, but the effects of that terrible day are sure to emerge in their lives at school and at home. Ronnie and I knew that the block corner was sure to be a place where children could process their terrifying experiences in a safe context, yet the block areas in her classrooms were so small, and the experiences of her preschoolers were so enormous in scope. Clearly, a different kind of block area was required, and it was needed immediately.

I wrote to John Rhodes, CEO of Community Playthings, and asked if we could get what's called a "school set" of blocks to Washington Market School in time for Ronnie's second "first day," just nine days after the attack. Community Playthings responded with a donation of these blocks and, together with volunteers from the Rifton Bruderhoff community and Poughkeepsie Day School, we set out for lower Manhattan. The police stopped us at a checkpoint, but they, too, seemed to understand the immediacy of our task. They heard our story, checked our I.D. and cut open many boxes. Upon seeing the beautiful, clean, new hardwood blocks inside, amazingly, they let us pass. I consider it one of the many miracles of that day that those beleaguered policemen viewed our blocks as relief items.

The Community Block Area at Washington Market School is now open for all students, and it sure to be a place where cities are built, destroyed and built again. This may have seemed like a trivial task in the heart of a war zone, but it was our way to give the world back to these children, if only in the block area, to help them feel powerful, creative and in control once more. Our deepest hope is that these children--and all children--can rebuild their sense of well-being and security through play, one block at a time.

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