Sitting down to a table of five kindergartners, Kevin Sanstead smiled and pointed to drawing of jugglers in a small picture book about the circus.

“Can you guys juggle?” Sanstead asked the students. “I can juggle.”

“My dad can,” responded one of the kindergartners.

Sanstead, a manager from the ConocoPhillips Billings Refinery, was tagging along with Jeremiah Rouane, an executive at First Interstate Bank, and Principal Shanna Henry at Miles Avenue Elementary School for the annual Educator for a Day program.

Across Billings School District 2 this morning, 67 local business leaders were spread across 30 schools, where they followed principals, visited classrooms and interacted with students in an effort to better understand the inner work-ings of public schools.

“I hope they see a lot of good things are happening,” Henry said.

Sanstead and Rouane watched as students practiced reading skills, learned Mayan numbers or worked on the com-puter. Both talked about how much technology has become a part of the classroom and the challenges teachers face as they instruct students from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.

“It’s neat just to hear what (Principal) Shanna (Henry) has to say, because you don’t really get exposed to what goes on in public schools,” Rouane said.

Moving on to the library, they watched as a group of kindergartners sat at school computers using a reading program that allowed them to hear how letters and words were pronounced. Afterward, the program prompted students to speak into microphones, evaluating their reading fluency.

To use the program, the small students wore angular, beige headphones that covered most of the sides of their heads and included a microphone that could drop down in front of their mouths.

“They look like little Jedis,” Rouane said.

Leaving the library, Sanstead and Rouane followed Henry to the upper level classrooms. Both said they enjoyed their visit to Miles Avenue.

“It’s a good program,” Sanstead said of Educator for a Day. “It helps us understand where the challenges are.”

Contact Rob Rogers at rrogers@billingsgazette.com or at 406-657-1231.