The pink dress and boots Charlotte wore to school Friday were purchased for the holidays, but after plenty of pleas, her mother finally let her daughter wear the ensemble to class. She even styled Charlotte's red curly hair specially to celebrate the end of the week. "She was going to go some places in this world," her uncle, John Hagen, of Nisswa, Minn., told Newsday. "This little girl could light up the room for anyone." Photo: Facebook

The image of Daniel that comes to mind for neighbor Peter Bernson is a very special, happy glimpse into the life of the first-grader: a laughing, brown-haired boy heading to the bus stop every morning atop his father's shoulders. The youngest of three children, he was a familiar face at swim practice, among other activities. "This is a warm, loving family," a co-worker of his mother, Jackie Barden, tells the AP. "The kids were the type of kids parents want their children to be around: warm and wonderful and caring and kind. This is heartbreaking." Photo: Courtesy of the Family

This holiday season, Olivia was cast in the St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church's live nativity scene. "She was supposed to be an angel in the play," Monsignor Robert Weiss told the mourners gathered in the church before Saturday's production, according to Reuters. "Now she's an angel up in heaven." Her smile lives on in the Facebook photographs that tell the story of a wide-eyed child who went boating with her family and told Santa what she wanted for Christmas. "Her only crime," said a family friend, according to the AP, "is being a wiggly, smiley 6-year-old." Photo: Tim Nosezo/Engel Family/AP

She celebrated her 7th birthday on Dec. 11. Now, balloons hang on the mailboxes and gates near Josephine's home, all in her favorite color: purple. She was the girl known for riding her bike and setting up a lemonade stand in summer. People called her Boo, reports the Register Citizen, after the girl in the movie Monsters, Inc. For neighbors, all this has meant they have "many happy memories of her." Photo: Courtesy of the Family

Just two months ago, Ana’s family moved to Connecticut from Canada, drawn by the school's impressive reputation in town. Now, her memory lives on in a song her father, jazz saxophonist Jimmy Greene, penned in her namesake, "Ana Grace." "As we work through this nightmare, we're reminded how much we're loved and supported on this earth and by our father in heaven," Greene told the Ottawa Citizen. "As much as she's needed here and missed by her mother, brother and me, Ana beat us all to paradise. I love you, sweetie girl." Photo: Family Photo/Rex USA

Her outfits matched her personality: sunny floral dresses. "She was a sweet, unique, bright, sparkling, determined little girl," her family said in a statement about the first-grader. "She was an avid reader who loved running and dancing. She was a born leader."

Living in England for most of his life, Dylan and his family moved to Connecticut two years ago, his grandmother tells the Boston Herald. He loved playing video games, eating garlic bread and jumping on the trampoline with his older brother Jake. All dimples and big blue eyes, "he had the most mischievous little grin," his grandmother adds. "To know him was to love him." Photo: Facebook

The freckled-faced redhead is the niece of an employee at ABC News, which received a statement from the family expressing both grief and gratitude. "We are greatly saddened by the loss of our beautiful daughter," said parents Jennifer and Matthew Hubbard, "and our thoughts and prayers are with the other families who have been affected by this tragedy. We ask that you continue to pray for us and the other families who have experienced loss in this tragedy." Photo: Courtesy of Hubbard Family

All the blond-haired, blue-eyed boy wanted for Christmas was his two front teeth, remembers his 13-year-old next-door neighbor, according to the local NewsTimes. He was always on the move playing outside. And even without his teeth, recalls another neighbor, "He always had a smile on his face." Photo: Courtesy of the Family

When he wasn't in class, Jesse liked to stay outside, where he would hang out in his back yard with the horses who lived there. "I'd be in the yard or in the house," an 81-year-old neighbor tells the local NewsTimes, "and I would hear him laughing, playing." Photo: Family Photo/Rex USA

No matter the weather, James preferred shorts and T-shirts, his look not complete without a little hair gel. From baseball to basketball to swimming and arm-wrestling, he loved games, including the ones he'd play on his iPad. "I need to go outside, Mom," he'd say. "I need fresh air," says his obituary. When he wasn't on the move, as day turned to night, he'd grab his brown fleece blanket and a pillow and snuggle up on the couch next to his mom. Photo: Facebook

"A real little doll" is how a neighbor describes Grace, whom she'd see at the bus stop each morning, bound for a day of school. "It's heartbreaking, just heartbreaking," says neighbor Todd Werden. "It's just unfathomable." Her parents and older brother, Chris, Lynn and Jack McDonnell, reached out to share a statement in her memory. "We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from so many people. Our daughter Grace was the love and light of our family. Words cannot adequately express our sense of loss." Photo: Courtesy of McDonnell Family/AP

Even at 6, Emilie had plenty to teach her younger sisters, like how to dance, how to laugh. Before her death, she was teaching her 4-year-old sister to read and her 3-year-old sister to craft. "They looked up to her," said her father, according to the AP. "They looked up to her when they needed comfort. They'd run to Emilie for hugs and kisses." The last time he saw his daughter that morning, she spoke to him in Portuguese, a language she was beginning to master. "She said she loved me, and I gave her a kiss," he recalled, "and I was out the door." Photo: Emilie Parker Memorial Fund/Reuters/Landov

When New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz took the field Dec. 16, Jack's memory was honored on his game-day uniform. "Jack Pinto, My Hero," the NFL player wrote on one of his cleats. "Jack Pinto This one is 4 U!" he wrote on his gloves. It's a fitting remembrance - the family had considered burying the boy, a young Cruz fan, in the player’s No. 80 jersey. "My sincerest condolences to the entire Pinto family," Cruz said. "My prayers are with you during this extremely difficult time."

When his mother told him she loved him, Noah replied, "Not as much as I love you, Mom," said his uncle, according to the AP. In another classroom, his twin sister, whom he called his best friend, survived the shooting. Along with their older sister, 8-year-old Sophia, the siblings were inseparable. "He was just a really lively, smart kid," added his uncle. "He would have become a great man, I think. He would have grown up to be a great dad." Photo: Family photo/AP

Last year around this time, Caroline broke her piggy bank so she could give her local priest money to buy Christmas presents for children who were less fortunate. On her own wish list: a camera, so she could take pictures of everyone, her grandfather tells PEOPLE, adding, "she was a bouncy kid." She loved to draw and play soccer. Her older brother, Walker, also attended the school; during the shooting, he managed to escape from another classroom. Photo: Courtesy of the Family

This year, Jessica wanted cowgirl boots and a hat for Christmas. She loved horses, reading books about them, drawing them. Her parents promised to get her a real one when she turned 10, reports the Wall Street Journal. "Jessica was our first born. She started our family, and she was our rock," her family says. "We called her our little CEO for the way she carefully thought out and planned everything. We can't imagine our life without her." They add they're "trying to help her brother Travis understand why he can't play with his best friend." Photo: Facebook

"Her smile could get her out of anything," Avielle's riding instructor, Annette Sullivan, told the Connecticut Post about the giggly girl who wore pink cowboy boots. She was about to lose her front tooth, Sullivan says, so Avielle happily showed off her wiggly-toothed grin. This Christmas, she asked for an Easy Bake Oven. "She wanted to be able to make her mom cookies," says Sullivan. Photo: Facebook

"There's always some brave individual who goes up to the dance floor to get everybody involved," said Rabbi Shaul Praver of Newtown's Adath Israel synagogue. "That was Ben Wheeler." His family, who moved to Sandy Hook last year, describes him to PEOPLE as an "irrepressibly bright and spirited boy whose love of fun and excitement at the wonders of life and the world could rarely be contained." He and brother Nate "filled the house with the noise of four children."

In the summer, she was always outside, a neighbor tells the Connecticut Post. She liked to garden; it was a favorite activity to do with her mother. Although she was a shy, quiet girl, recalls a former teacher to the local New Haven Register, "she would smile at things. If a kid did something funny, she'd be laughing."

The former therapist was "one of the funniest, loudest, happiest people ever," a friend told the Los Angeles Times. In the classroom, she'd dress up in costume and break out into songs to help her students learn. Friends and strangers alike paid tribute to her on a special Facebook page.

For the principal, teaching was a magical experience — literally. Last month, she donned a crown and sparkly dress to become the Sandy Hook Book Fairy to motivate first-graders to read. A friend told CNN she was "nice and very fun" but also "a tough lady in the right sort of sense." Hochsprung died protecting children when the gunman opened fire in the main office. Photo: Eliza Hallabeck/Newtown Bee/AP

Lanza sometimes sat at a local bar and talked about her prized gun collection while sampling craft beers. The shooting's first victim, she was killed by her son with one of her own guns before he continued on to the school. Divorced since 2008, she could be social and welcoming, a fan of jazz music, but also edgy and tense, reports the New York Times. She's now a mystery. "Who were they?" asked one neighbor. "I'm sure we rang their door on Halloween." Photo: ABC News

The special education teacher was known as witty and hardworking, but will be remembered most by her last moments. Her body was found in a classroom, protectively covering a group of students who were also killed, reports Newsday. "A first responder said she was a hero," Murphy's father said of the married mother of four. Photo: ABC News

After years of substitute teaching and picking up shifts at Starbucks and a catering company, Sandy Hook Elementary hired her full-time just last month. It was her dream job, reports the Washington Post. "She was still a little girl at 30," said her father, Gilles Rousseau. "She loved little kids. She was in their zone." Photo: Courtesy of Rousseau Family/AP

The school psychologist and mother of two grown daughters, who had hoped to retire to Upstate New York, was in a meeting with the principal when they heard gunfire, and ran toward it. "She considered what she was doing as God's work," her husband, William Sherlach, told the Washington Post. "That's all you need to know." Photo: Courtesy of Mark Sherlach/AP

After leading her students into a closet, placing her body between them and the gunman, "She was found huddled over her children," her cousin Jim Wiltsie told ABC News. Her sister Carlee Soto added: "She loved those students more than anything, and she didn't call them her students, she called them her kids." Photo: Rex USA