Because of the significance of Christa McAuliffe being the first teacher in space, our school - Sun City Elementary in Bossier City, Louisiana - gathered classes together with the few TV's we had in school at the time - on an A/V cart from the library.
I was in 2nd grade at the time. We had all gathered and talked about the significance of the Challenger mission before tuning into CNN live. However, once the shuttle began to disintegrate, the teachers quickly shut off the TV in horror. Several students and teachers who realized what happened were crying...others sat around looking confused. They quickly sent us all back to our classrooms and had us color for a while afterward...