Pencil Wars

The title of this post says it all for me.  Pencils are a battlefield for my students and I.  It drives me crazy!!  I've tried the sharpened and unsharpened buckets and giving it out pencils at the beginning of the week and so many other things.  Last year I ran across an idea for a pencil challenge.  This has saved my life!! I am not exaggerating.

I did make a change. I don't have pencil pouches for my kids and I am a little more picky about the pencils.  I give my kids three pencils a week.  They can come at any time and ask for another pencil, but they get three a week that count for the pencil challenge.  My big difference is that I want to make sure that my students are actually keeping track of THEIR pencils not just leaving them around and they end with the pencils they need. This means I write their number on their three pencils with a sharpie at the end of the pencil.  This takes a few minutes the first time you do it, but I don't mind. Plus it makes the kids accountable for their pencils.

I NEVER have students asking for a pencil from me.  NEVER! How incredible is that.  Plus, with their number on it I don't have students bringing me pencils because it is on the floor.  They find the correct person and I don't have random pencils floating around my room. Score for me!! Since I don't have kids constantly losing pencils it means we don't run through pencils as quickly as we have in the past.  My first year we actually ran out of pencils and I had to go buy some just to get through the year.

On Monday they get a prize if they can show me their three pencils.  If they can't they get the new pencils they need with their number.  If the pencils with their number are still in good condition they just keep using those and if they are getting small or look raggedy I will switch it out for a new pencil. Since my kids haven't had any problems keeping their pencils for a week, we are starting to up the time and now they have to keep track of those pencils for two weeks.

I know three pencils doesn't seem like much, but my kids are taking much better care of their pencils now so they don't need new pencils constantly.  They are obsessive about keeping track of their pencils.  I also cut down on sharpening because the kids are allowed to sharpen their pencil only in the morning during morning work.  Their job is to sharpen their three pencils.  If they need to sharpen their pencil the rest of the day they have to ask.  Before, my kids were sharpening whenever which meant if they were bored they got up and wandered to the pencil sharpener.  That meant my pencils magically disappeared.  Now they know their job is to have the three sharpened pencils and if they have to ask me to sharpen usually the first thing I ask is did you sharpen three this morning.

The pencil challenge has cut down on pencils in my room immensely and the way I do it works for me.