President Obama continued his pitch for the economic stimulus package today, even as the Senate debates the future of this mega-billion-dollar package.

His audience this afternoon, in addition to the media, was a class of 2nd graders at Capital City Public Charter School in Washington. (This, by the way, was a school Sara Mead of the New America Foundation suggested the president look at for his own kids.) This marks his first official school visit as president. And, as a colleague so astutely pointed out, his first visit is to a charter school. Is he making a statement?

According to the transcript, Obama said this (after reading to the 2nd graders):

”... we’re very proud of what’s been accomplished at this school and we want to make sure that we’re duplicating that success all across the country...And the recovery and reinvestment act that we’ve put forward will provide billions of dollars to build schools and help with school construction. It will provide money to train teachers, especially in subjects like math and science that are so critical. And it will also give Secretary Duncan the resources he needs to reward excellent, innovative schools. And so we think it’s really important for the country that we get that bill passed.”

UPDATE: The pool report from the reporter following the president today contained some interesting tidbits:

*When asked to name his superheroes, Obama picked Spiderman and Batman.

*Obama read “The Moon Over Star” by Dianna Hutts, about Neil Armstrong’s moon landing, to the class.

*Obama was asked about pets. He admitted he had a fish, but that it died. Michelle Obama chimed in: “the girls say we keep killing them.”

*Before they left, the First Couple distributed books to the kids for their library. One was called “Mr. Peabody’s Apples.”

More Update:

Video courtesy MSNBC.com

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy