Patriotic music played from a speaker outside as Dedham School students, led by their teachers, walked out onto the athletic fields Friday morning and stood 6 feet apart on markers laid out in the shape of the U.S.
It was the school’s way of recognizing the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Jeff Paul, principal of the school that has students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, spoke briefly before the national anthem was played. Lights flashed from a Dedham fire truck in the school parking lot when students recited the Pledge of Allegiance before observing a moment of silence.
At approximately 8:46 a.m., the time when the first World Trade Center tower was struck, the students waved American flags for one minute. Cars driving along route 1A honked their horns as they passed.
“It’s important that we carry history on,” said physical education teacher Tim Pearson, who arranged the markers where students stood in the shape of the U.S. “Our students weren’t born at the time when 9/11 occurred, and so we need to continue to help them remember what it was, and this is one way we thought we could do that.”