~ Oh, the things I thought I'd be missing~

A new realization has come to me since teaching third grade. The drama queens we get in the fifth grade have their roots in the third grade.

Mean girls. Drama Queens. Queen Bees & Wannabes.

Call them what you will, I've got at least three of them, ripping a path of destruction through my classroom.

We typically aren't aware of the problem until someone blurts out, "I HATE YOU!" They're good at keeping things under the surface. Then the detective work begins.

Last week, we worked hard on personal connections to stories. For example, the person in the story we were reading had a little brother who drove her nuts, and those of us who had younger siblings understood the story much better because we knew what that was like. We had a personal connection. They all went off to read their own books, and at the end everyone got a chance to share a connection they found to their own story. All fine and good.

The next thing we knew, M was shouting her hatred at a couple other girls at break time. After some calm down/thinking time next door, I went in to talk to her. Her side of the story? "I only said that because K said that my connection in reading wasn't right when Ms. L said it was fine. And then K went and told B my connection was bad and B said to A and K that they weren't going to play with me anymore."

Wow. So, I poked my head in and interuptted break time for B and K and A. I sent them all to different rooms and then pulled them one at a time to verify M's story. Which they did, K saying that she thought M's connection was a bunch of baloney and didn't like it when M argued with her about it, which is why she told B. B saying that she didn't like M arguing with K and that's why she decided that M couldn't play with them. A saying she just wanted to play with K and B and didn't like M all that much, only she didn't know why. Except that B and K didn't like her either.

Following all of this? It was enough to make my head spin as well. A round of consequences was had by all, and I was left shaking my head.

They act like fifth grade girls. With a couple of key differences. One, when I talked to them, they all cried. Fifth grade girls sigh and roll their eyes over stuff like this. They rarely cry. Two, with fifth grade girls, I would never have even known about this whole thing. The whole scene in the classroom would have been communicated in a series of facial expressions, gestures, and quiet whispers, and it would have become truly nasty out on the playground, away from the prying eyes of any teacher. Third grade girls just haven't figured that out yet.

I thought I would have less of this to deal with, not more. Third graders continue to surprise me...and not always in good ways.