'We don't want you to die!': Teachers credited with saving students' lives in Okla. tornado

Lily Raymond, 17, rushes to embrace her brother Ethan Raymond, 11, as a teacher escorts him away from Briarwood Elementary school after a tornado destroyed the school in south Oklahoma City on Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Paul Hellstern) (The Associated Press)

An aerial view of Briarwood Elementary that was damaged in Monday's tornado Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Oklahoma. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) (The Associated Press)

T. Sgt. Robert Raymond, left, runs to embrace his son Ethan, 11, center partially obscured, with his daughter Lily, 17, right, at Briarwood Elementary school after a tornado destroyed the school in south Oklahoma City on Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Paul Hellstern) (The Associated Press)

Students who survived the powerful tornado in Oklahoma are recounting moments of fear and acts of bravery by their teachers.

The twister slammed two elementary schools in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore. At least seven children were killed at Plaza Towers Elementary, but all appear to have survived at Briarwood Elementary.

Students at both schools recounted Tuesday that they had been ordered into the halls as the tornado approached. But in both cases, teachers then redirected at least some of the students to places that appeared safer.

Some students at Plaza Towers were crammed into the stalls of a bathroom. Some at Briarwood were ushered into a closet by a teacher.