Tag Archives: hand signals

Pencils! Pencils! Pencils!

2012-08-20 12.09.06

I don’t know about you, but I have a Pencil Monster in my classroom!

It seems as though pencils are always going missing in a primary classroom.

I would like to share my pencil management system with you.

I have two cups for pencils.  The Sharp cup and the Broken cup.  My mentor teacher used this dual pencil cup method when I was student teaching, and I have used it in my own classroom since.  When a student needs a new pencil they raise 2 fingers, (the hand signal for “I need out of my seat”) and once granted permission, they put their broken pencil in the broken cup and take a fresh pencil out of the sharp cup.  Students keep their pencils inside a basket in their desk.  This seems to inhibit the Pencil Monster’s ability to snatch them up!
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