Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade Tidbits: Pencil Management System

For my whole teaching career, I've used the "sharp/dull" pencil system. Each student is given one pencil. They use it as needed, and once it goes dull, they put it into the dull cup and grab one from the sharp cup. It's honestly never been a problem. The kids were very responsible for the pencils they were using. There would be an occasional "chewing" situation, but other than that no major issues.

This method worked fine, up until about two years ago. I kept finding rogue pencils on the floor. For some reason there were pencils everywhere!!! It used to be no big deal to pick them up, but as I get older, and my joint pain gets worse, I just can't bend over all day to pick pencils up. I decided that for the 22-23 school year, I was going to change my system.

I decided to put the students in charge of their own pencils. I grabbed some toothbrush holders, fresh pencils from my never-ending stash at school, dot labels, a black Sharpie, and packaging tape. I labeled two of each toothbrush holder with a number. I did 1-24, because I think I'll most likely have no more than 24 students this year. Here comes the semi-tedious part: I labeled 10 pencils with student numbers and placed 5 in each toothbrush holder.

Here's my plan:

Students each get one toothbrush holder, containing five pencils with their number on it. One pencil stays on top of their desk for quick access; the others stay in the holder inside of their desk. If they lose the pencil on top, break it, or it goes dull, they simply put it into their container and get a fresh one out. This continues all week.

Each Friday, students will bring me their toothbrush holder. I will swap it out with the "extra--" remember I mentioned that I made two holders? I'll quickly look through the holders and note who has all five of their pencils (broken or not, it doesn't matter). If a student has all five, they earn a sticker on the pencil chart. Once they get a certain number of stickers (undecided as of now), they can choose from the treasure or candy box.

Some weeks students will earn stickers and others will not. I'm sure there will be some students who earn stickers every week. The goal is to teach students to be responsible for their things. This system is not set up to punish students. If a student finds a pencil on the floor, he/she will be encouraged to look at the number chart and return it to the person it belongs to.

I am super excited to try this system. What do you use for your pencil management? Let me know in the comments below!