This week The Icon talked with Makenzy Dauterman, a student in Mrs. Kingsley’s class, Kiera Rieman (Raeburn), Reagan Mittendorf (Armstrong) and Anna Knauss (Bogart).

What’s your favorite subject?
Makenzy: Math. It’s fun.
Kiera: Math. I learn lots of stuff.
Reagan: Science. I like the experiments. We created rock candy with sugar and water. We mixed it in a boiling pot, added food coloring and it turned to crystals. It keeps growing and in two weeks we eat it.
(Several additional responses were given to this question and the discussion wnt into great detail about this experiment.)
Anna: Reading. I like to learn new words.

What is the difference between second grade and third grade?
Makenzy: In the third grade you learn more.
Kiera: In the second grade you don’t do as much science.
Reagan: In the third students learn science and social studies.
Anna: In the second grade it’s easy stuff. Not much homework.

How much homework do you have in the third grade?
Makenzy: Math facts.
Kiera: Learning to multiply. We are going to 8s.
Reagan: Multiplication and division timed facts. You have two minutes to answer 30 questions. It’s easy though.
Anna: Reading a story and spelling words. We have a spelling test every Friday.

If you were president of the United States what is the first law you would propose?
Makenzy: Stop littering.
Kiera: Save the animals.
Reagan: Instead of paper have tablets at desks and not use as much paper.
Anna: Hmmm, this is hard. I think, oh, make schools put back cursive. You need to know it when you write checks.

When did they stop teaching cursive in school?
All at once: They stopped when we were in the second grade and we never learned it.
Kiera: Our teacher showed us our names in cursive. (She demonstrates it.)

Let me show you what my name looks like in cursive.
Kiera: That “F” looks like a “T.”

I want you to think really hard about my next question. If you could combine one fruit and one vegetable, what would you combine, what would it look like and what would you call it? (Everyone laughed at these answers.)

Makenzy: Tomatoes and peas. I’d call it topes.
Kiera: Muskmelons and peas. I’d call it mustpee.
Reagan: Carrots and bananas. Cabarous.
Anna: Pineapple and carrot. Pinecarr.

What would it be like if we lived in a city in the ocean?
Makenzy: It won’t work.
Kiera: What if sharks eat us?
Reagan: Sharks think people are seals.
Anna: I saw five shark movies. They talked about how sharks are born.

If you could invent a new game – a board game or computer game – how would it work? What would you call it?
Makenzy: Mine head. You’d mine for heads.
Kiera: Art game. You’d find all the paintings that people stole and get a prize and then the art would go to a museum. I’d call it Art in France.
Reagan: Book-o-Rama. You’d find books that are hidden in five minutes. Read all of them in 20 minutes or in a decent time.
Anna: Monkey Doodle. Take all the doodles – little doggies – see who could collect the most and get a prize.

What would you like to be when you grow up?
Makenzy: A vet for farm animals.
Kiera: I’m thinking.
Reagan: A lawyer or an art teacher. My mom’s a lawyer and I like art.
Kiera: Actually I want to be an art teacher, too. Any grade.
Anna: A teacher to kindergarten students. I’d get to see all the kids. Or, maybe a second grade teacher.

How long is the longest you’ve ever stayed awake?
Makenzy: From 7 at night to 7 a.m. in the summer. I was grouchy and will never do it again.
Kiera: A whole night one weekend. My sister and her friends fell asleep. They were older that I am.
Reagan: 7 a.m. until I went to bed at 3 a.m. I woke up at 6:30 a.m. This was at a party. There were 13 girls in an attic. We were all grouchy.
Anna: From 6:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. Once on a Saturday a long time ago.

What’s your favorite sport?
Makenzy: Football.
Kiera: Softball and volleyball.
Reagan: Soccer.
Anna: Volleyball and soccer.

What question should I ask you last?
(It was suggested to ask, “What is your favorite color?”)
Okay, what is your favorite color?
Makenzy: Lime green.
Kiera: Orange and purple.
Reagan: Neon orange.
Anna: Bright green.

Well, thank you for all you interesting answers. You may go back to your class now.