Sigh

Oh, we've got mean girls.  

Yesterday a ring of them were giving away trinkets to certain girls and making other girls buy them.

There were hurt feelings.  Some girls respond by being sad and some girls respond by being really nasty back.

It's a lot of fun.

I sat them down and told them a story of my very own mean girl cousin experiences from my childhood.  They gasped.  (Do you recognize yourself?!?  Because I do.)

I am going to keep beating the drum of don't let the mean girls have your power.  The best thing to do for a mean girl is walk away.

Why would you want to be friends with them anyway?  I ask that question.  A lot.

Because you can't control anyone else, just yourself.

We have the Wellness Room.  Students can request to go if they need a ten minute reset/ they are feeling upset for whatever reason.  The idea is that they can't really learn when they are amped up emotionally, so letting them reset gets them back to learning.  I usually have a pretty high bar to going to the Wellness Room.  If someone asks to go, I ask why.  I try to see if they can do something to feel better and still stay in class.  When they can't, I let them go to the Wellness Room.

Yesterday I had a record three girls go to the Wellness Room for the following reasons:  fractions, an upcoming dentist appointment and a broken hair tie.

None of these problems were things that could be resolved or cajoled or dealt with in any other way.

The handful of boys in my classroom mostly stay to themselves and rejoice that they are not girls.

I don't blame them.