This week The Icon talked with four third graders, Olivia Pittsenbarger (Mrs. Kingsley’s class), Ellison Pugsley (Bogart), Sophia Bricker (Armstrong), and Gracie Breidenbach (Raeburn).

Well, girls, what are your favorite third grade subjects?
Olivia: Science.
Ellision: Math.
Sophia: Science.
Gracie: Science.
(At this point we discussed mealy worms in great detail. According to Sophia, her’s crawled up her arm.)

If you could put any new plaything on the school playground, what would you add?
Sophia: A hot tub. (Everyone laughs)
Gracie: An old school bus to climb in with a hot tub inside.
Ellison: A jungle gym with a swimming pool.
Olivia: A slide going to a pool.

Let’s go to the moon. What would you do there if you visited it?
Olivia: Probably just sit there.
Ellison: You’d float, not walk.
Sophia: You could make a moon cake with stuff you’d find in space.
Gracie: My house would fall off the moon because it floats.

Invent a new automobile. What would yours look like and what would you call it?
Gracie: Water Splash, because everyone’s seat is behind a hot tub. The pedal would be a duck.
Sophia: Bouncy. It would be a giant marshmallow.
Ellison: Super Car. It would have a hot tub, a TV and you’d sit on top of Gummy Bears.
Olivia: TV. There would be a TV inside like a chair.

If you could invent a new letter to the alphabet, what would it look like and what sound would it make? (Each girl drew the new letter.)
Sophia: (letter looks like a cursive S and B merged together). It would sound like “scuuubbbbaaaa.”
Gracie: (letter looks like a cursive “h” with a curly-cue on the end.) Its sound is “cttoooooooo.”
Olivia: (letter looks like a backward cursive “y.") “wwwwaaaaaac.”
Ellison: (letter looks like a word in shorthand). It has no sound.

Tell me about the difference between second grade and third grade.
Gracie: Third grade is harder and the teacher gives you more pressure work. In science we raised insects. We never did that in second grade.
Sophia: Reading tests at the end of the week make you work really hard.
Ellison: Teachers force you to do more work.
Olivia: There’s more science and math. It’s (math) ugly!

Can you give me an example of a difficult math problem you’ve faced recently?
Ellison: How many days are in three years?
Sophia. Four digit numbers times a one digit number. It’s tough.
Olivia: 20 times 5.
Gracie: 3,042 times 4. We did that two days ago.

If you could have any animal as a pet for one day – it would be completely safe to have – what pet would you have? (The thought here was a real animal that exists, however, that's not what happened. As the answers came in, each girl continued to add descriptions to her invented animal.)

Ellison: A dog mixed with a cat. A “Gat.” It would have a tail very long, pink, and a brain of ice cream.
Sophia:  A cat that stays a kitten forever. Purple. Super long tail and you could make a pillow out of it.
Olivia: A deer mixed with an alligator. Call it “Gas.” (Everyone laughs) Black and legs are orange.
Gracie: A cobra with rainbow stripes. Call it “Roba.” He’d like to do yoga and talk and video chat with me. His brain would be little mints.

Invent a new board game and tell me the rules.
Sophia: Hop to the States. Anywhere you go you learn the language.
Gracie: Gummy Bear Trivia. A normal trivia game and you get Gummy Bears for prizes.
Olivia: Land of Hope, where Gummy Bears end up as Gummy Worms.
Ellison: Basketball shoot (here it comes) with Gummy Bears as prizes.

What would you like to be when you grow up?
Gracie: A Gummy Bear psychologist. Or a fashion designer.
Ellison: A heart surgeon. I’d help people who have problems.
Olivia: A vet, or a horseback rider, dolphin trainer or dog babysitter.
Sophia: Art teacher or the person who puts clothes on models in stores.

Thank you very much for talking with me. You may return to you class.