Mapping Minnesota

Who knew Minnesota could make kids go so crazy?  Maybe it's just because it's Thursday.  Maybe it's because of the rainy weather (in January!).  Maybe it's because of the rough and rowdy recess the 6-8th graders had just prior to Minnesota history.  Whatever the reason, my 6th graders were off the wall during history today. 

This week, our study focused on the geography of Minnesota.  They've been working in trios to create a big map of our beautiful state about 3 ft x 4 ft.  There were certain requirements, but basically I set out a bunch of supplies and told them to dive in.  Tuesday they worked really well together.  Today... not so much.  Everyone was picking at each other and getting into the other group's business... I almost wanted to pull my hair out.

One group was all girls.  They did pretty well working together.  One student was attracted to the buttons and rocks I had set out; she wanted to use all of them on their map, but couldn't think of anything they could represent.  Her partners were chewing her out because she kept getting distracted and was kind of getting in the way.  Eventually we figured out something the rocks could represent, and she excitedly placed them on their map.

Meanwhile, the group with two boys and one girl was working in the wood ramp entryway to our classroom so they had a flat surface (instead of carpet).  The boys were yelling and arguing and releasing bodily functions (much to the dismay of the girl in their group).  Even though I have two rough and rowdy brothers, I was coming to the edge with these two boys.  The last straw came when they told me they were finished with their map.  It still looked very plain.  I asked, "Does this look like A+ work?"  "Oh, yeah!" they answered.  The female student shook her head negatively.  The boys immediately clamored, "Well you can just get less than an A+, and we can both get As."  Then they saw the principal and ran over, "Mr. E!  Does our map look like A+ work?"  He said, "I'm sure your teacher will be glad to tell you if it fits the criteria." I don't think they knew what that meant. 

Apparently in their minds, it meant that their map was perfect and they didn't have to do anything else.  I tried giving suggestions of things to add, but they weren't paying any attention.  So I asked one of the boys to grab his book and come sit at his desk.  "Uh, oh, I'm gonna have to do notes now," he said.  Off the top of my head, I tried to come up with an activity still in line with MN mapping but not nearly as fun as working with his group.  He ended up having to make a map of MN and label all the counties.  The room got so quiet after that!

When he finished, he joined his group to work on their map again.  They still struggled for the last five minutes of class, but after that they scurried off to math for a test and we put group work to rest for the remainder of the day.