Submitted by Becky Luce, New Hampshire

Idea posted March 31, 2005

I have to admit, I've gotten a bit too organized with pencils. However, after having dealt with pencils disappearing and kids purposely destroying the erasers, I have come up with a solution that has worked like a charm for the past three years.

At Wal-Mart, I bought small stacking drawers, enough for one drawer per class. I also bought one pencil per child. Then I spent several nights in front of rented movies putting tape labels on each pencil. I cut a small piece of masking tape and wrapped it around the upper end of the pencil, just below the eraser. It looks like a little flag. I write each child's first name and last initial on the flag and put it in their class drawer. I keep the pencils in the music room and pull them out when we need them. It's just amazing how well they treat their OWN pencils! It IS time-consuming to get them all ready, but I NEVER have to worry about not having enough pencils or kids forgetting theirs.