School was closed for several days. I was playing basketball in the playground when the announcement came that Oswald was shot. My parents saw it happen live on TV.
We didn't get sent home early, but were dismissed for an early recess in the school gym as the weather outside was not hospitable. No assembly, no formal announcement or anything of the sort. Just kids dribbling basketballs in one area, playing dodge ball in another, the normal type of activity for an indoor recess except the principal was standing in the corner talking to a couple of teachers with a grim look on his face.
We could tell the news was not good. A few of the kids (including me) even went up to them and asked to confirm what we feared: the president had died.
After what seemed like an unusually long recess, we were told to return to our home rooms as there would be an early dismissal. This was a small-town school where probably two-thirds of the kids rode a bus home. I suppose it took that much time to contact the bus drivers to come in early.
Some of the homeroom teachers, including ours, must have thought the news would be upsetting to early elementary kids so only told us that school was dismissing early. Of course, I knew the real reason as did any of the other kids who had talked to faculty during recess.
My older sister and brothers, of course, were told by their teachers and when I got home and compared notes, I was actually more upset about being treated like a little kid who couldn't handle the bad news.
Not that I didn't feel bad. We all felt terrible. It is just that I felt excluded for the crime of being too little.