Here are notes from a brief discussion with four third grade boys: Roric Dunifon (Mrs. Kingsley’s class), Kyler Kinn (Bogart), Ian Martz (Armstrong) and Eli Okuley (Raeburn).

What’s your favorite subject in third grade?
Roric: Science. I like making experiments, especially the rock candy experiment.
Kyler: Math. It’s fun and I’m good at it. We are doing number 9 multiplications. There’s a trick to it.
Ian: Gym. I like to play games. Dodge ball. I’m good at it.
Eli: It’s in-between P.E. and science. I enjoy science and dodge ball.

If you could be any animal for one day, what animal would you be?
Roric: A dog. A Boxer. I’d walk around.
Kyler: A Great Dane.
Ian: A crocodile. I’d eat people.
Eli: A ‘gater. There’s one in the Cincinnati aquarium that’s 15 by 3 feet long.

Tell me about your hobbies or things you collect.
Roric: Pennies. I probably have 250. Also rocks. I collect smooth and shiny ones. I have 15.
Kyler: Sports cards. I have packs of them. A bucket full. Maybe 5,000.
Ian: Football cards. Maybe 1,000. I get them at Wal-Mart.
Eli: I used to collect old sports cards. Then, I sold one for $5 that was a lot more valuable than that.

Here’s a tough one. If you could change the name of Bluffton, what would you change it to?
(Long pause)
Ian: Ian’s town.
Roric: Roric’s town (everyone laughs).
Eli: No idea.
Kyler: Can’t think of anything.

Who is your favorite book character?
Ian: My Weird School series. Lots of weird things happen in it.
Roric: Big Nate. He’s a kid in school. He’s always doing things that get him in trouble.
Kyler: Geronimo Mouse.
Eli: The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. It’s entertaining.

If you could create an invention, what would you try to invent?
Kyler: A homework machine.
Roric: A lever in school. You’d walk into the school, pop up a road on the school floor and ride your bike.
Ian: A time machine. I’d go back one million years.
Eli: A robot version of me. It would go to school for me. I’d sit around at home.
 

If you could travel into the future or past, where would you go?
Roric: Definitely not the past.
Eli: Nine hundred thousand years into the future.
Ian: What if you went back in time before you sold your valuable sports card?

If you could invent a new game to play, what would it be?
Ian: Lunch box dodge ball. You throw lunch boxes.
Roric: You toss food. I don’t know what you’d call it.
Kyler: Lunch boxing. You take open lunch boxes and the food flies out.
Eli: Screaming at soup (everyone laughs). The whole game involves screaming at soup.

How long would it take to cross the universe?
Roric: Five thousand million years.
Kyler: It would take forever. The universe is infinite.
Ian: 10 years.
Eli: It’s not possible. The universe never ends.

Thank you for talking with me and you may return to you class.