T-R PHOTO BY ADAM SODDERS - Anson Elementary School kindergartner Henry Randall smiles with a small table he put together himself. He also built the chair he is sitting in

Building, deconstructing, searching.

These are some of Anson Elementary School kindergartner Henry Randall’s favorite things to do at school and at home. In fact, Henry joins Extended Learning Program students most mornings to take part in fun projects.

“We took a radio apart, like a rectangle one. We also took apart a hairdryer,” he said of some recent projects. “We found a motor in the hairdryer and we found speakers in the side of the radio.”

Henry also likes constructing things. His classroom teacher, Jessica Althaus, recently brought in a pair of chairs and a small table that required some assembly for him to work on.

Henry got to work and the table and chair set is now built and ready for students to enjoy.

During class time, Henry said he finds himself drawn to science.

“Right now, we’re learning about flowers,” he said.

For instance, he enjoyed watching plants absorb water with food coloring to see how nutrients are taken in.

During a recent animal unit, Henry and his classmates learned that small animals and plants can be found everywhere. He started looking under all kinds of objects for “roly-poly” bugs and has found many.

Henry’s searching continues during recess, when he looks for unique or particularly large rocks outside to add to his rock collection.

Althaus said this searching, exploring nature is part of what makes Henry a good student.

“He has the skills and the ideas that he wants to build things and he can build things,” she said. “That’s not a skillset that a lot of kids have at that age.”

Althaus said Henry has completed the online ST Math learning program for the year and is working through first-grade-level concepts in the digital Lexia literacy program.

“Our three expectations at Anson are that students are respectful, responsible and active learners,” Althaus said. “He definitely fills the shoes of all of those.”

She said he provides an excellent example for his peers to follow.

“He is a good role model for the other students in the class,” Althaus said.

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Contact Adam Sodders at

641-753-6611 or

asodders@timesrepublican.com