Wise Guys Wednesday Words of Wisdom: Where Do All the Pencils Go?

It's Wednesday, and that means it is "Hump Day!" You are now half-way through your week, and there is light at the end of the tunnel! We are here to brighten your day with Wise Guys Words of Wisdom!

This feature will be appearing on our blog once a week, on Wednesdays from mid August to mid June. The goal is for you to leave with a smile on your face and hopefully a spring in your step to help you finish off the week of school.

The fifth installment is about pencils. We hope our tips below will be useful when it comes to keeping pencils in your class.

It happens every year. We put on our detective hats and try to solve "The Case of the Disappearing Pencils!" For some reason, our pencils disappear like a David Copperfield magic trick or a plane in the Bermuda Triangle. No one knows where the pencils go. 

We have used community supplies for a long time in our classroom. We realize that not every student has the resources to purchase the necessary materials, so we know by sharing those students don't feel bad. So we have shared pencils as well. Little did we know that this would cause a mass exodus of pencils before the school year even ended.

But we have come up with some different ways to help solve the mystery of where the pencils go.

#1 Before the school year begins, mail a letter to all the families with a supply list and a note about the sharing of supplies. Your secretary should have a list of students and their addresses if you ask. Yes, there will be move ins at the beginning of the year, but you can keep an extra supply list and letter on file to share at that time.

#2. Go out and buy a few packs of pencils before the school year starts, and put two sharpened pencils in each students desk.

#2 When students arrive the first day, have them empty their supplies onto the top of their desks. Go around and collect the supplies the students are sharing including the pencils. Explain to the students that there will be a location in the room (ours is buy our electric pencil sharpener) where the pencils will be kept.

#3 By the electric pencil sharpener, we keep two small canisters, one for sharpened pencils and one for un-sharpened ones. The rest of the pencils go in a cupboard that only I have access to.

#4 We establish a class job of "pencil sharpener." This person is in charge of sharpening pencils in the beginning of the day, after recess and again at the end of the day. This works great as well for limiting distractions during instruction. If a student needs a new pencil, s/he simply puts the old one in the canister and takes a new one out.

#5 We also departmentalize, so students do switch rooms. Since we both have the same pencil policy, the students know what to do.

#6 Make sure to have frequent desk cleaning! Even though you have the pencil canisters set up, some students become hoarders of pencils. By emptying out desks, missing pencils resurface and can be put back for all to use.

#7 For holidays or special occasions, give your students special pencils! We give a birthday pencil, a Halloween pencil, a winter theme pencil, and a Valentine's pencil. Those help the supplies run a little farther.

#8 Rely on your families! If there is a shortage at the end of the year, send an email out, or note home, and you will be guaranteed to get more!

#9 Check your school's supply room. Some of these rooms may have a stash of pencils. Sneak in like a fox and grab some!

#10 At last resort, have a pencil check out system. I know this sounds very anal, but if there are a few pencil abusers in your classroom, have them check out pencils directly from you and not the class supply canister.

We hope you can use at least one of these ten tips to help you keep more pencils in your classroom this school year. Good luck!

Stay tuned for next week's installment of Wise Guys Words of Wisdom!