where do all the pencils go?

I find that they break them constantly. Not the tip - I mean IN HALF. Also, when I ask them where the forever pencils are they say they left it at home when they empty their pockets. Not sure what’s in those ugly af Spraygrounds they’re carrying around if not a pencil.

I have caught my students literally throwing them in the trash at the end of class. I don’t know why this is a thing.

Don't loan a single pencil or pen without getting collateral. Otherwise you'll never get them back. In my classroom the students have to give up a shoe in order to borrow something from me. Lots of teachers do something like this.

I lose a lot of pencils in my class, but students also lose a lot of pencils in MY class 🤣 I feel there is a balance here. I collect what they leave and use it. Circle of pencils.

I’m convinced there’s at least one kid in each class that eats them. Their anatomy is simply different and they don’t need food to survive. That yellow paint and wood pulp is what they survive on.

Use golf pencils.

I once got in trouble picking up pencils off the floor in the sixth grade hall one time. The math teacher caughtt me. She told me to go back to the specialists hall, that that was her after school pencil picking hall. lol

Over the last couple of years, I’ve had several students that hoard pencils. They’ll ask to borrow one even though they literally have 50 in their backpack. They will not return borrowed pencils and add them to their collection. It’s like a game. They’ll steal pencils right fr...

Sorry, it's one of my grade 5s. He has elected himself the class pencil goblin and goes around collecting them from the floor. He has so many that I have a hard time believing they all came from our class. For real, though, they are in one of three places: - snapped in two - ...

They get dropped on the floor and the custodian sweeps them up and dumps them in the garbage. I personally rescue at least 10 a day from his sweepings pile, and that's *just* from the classrooms near mine.

**From a high school teacher with 34 years experience:** \- Most of the time the kids HAVE a pencil, but they don't want to bother looking for it -- it's easier to ask you for one. \- I always kept a jar of "take-one pencils". Where'd I get them? The floor. When a kid ...

I pick up every pencil I see in my room, the hallway or wherever in the building. So far this year I have picked up over 450 pencils (yes I keep track). Smh

I read a fantasy series where the land of the goblins had random weather events where things like odd socks and other commonly missing items rained down.... the pencils from classrooms weren't mentioned, but I'm pretty sure that's what happens to them.

I only give away floor pencils. This year I’ve got a 6th grader that delivers a daily haul of floor pencils. I get anywhere from 6-10/day from him in all different states. This is the first year I’ve ever gained pencils, this kid is a godsend! But for real, they borrow them d...

I have accepted the fact that the 500 pencils I've put into my pencil box have all been sacrificed by the students to Cthulhu. Golf pencils, pencils that need sharpening, extra short pencils alike, the students just don't think of putting them back at the end of the day when ...

Trash can. I have pretty good students, and yet, they literally drop the pencils into the trash next to the door on their way out. You can start monitoring your trashcan; they’ll start using the trashcan in the hallway. I had to start a new system where they get a tally mark e...

One year I had pencils printed with “please return to Ms Neilson “ or something similar. Lost every one of them.

I put a few, marked pencils in our pencil holder. I said put them back when you're done. Since then, I either just refill it with pencils I find on the ground or say "borrow one from someone else" if they say there's no pencils left. Some have figured it out, some still havent...

I’m a math teacher now but when my daughter was in 4th grade I found a stash of square erasers we never bought. I gave them all back to teach. Knowing my sweet baby girl went klepto

I've seen several children throw pencils into the trash when they're done with them. I think it's a conspiracy by Big Pencil to get us to buy more pencils. They've brainwashed the kids into thinking they're single use.

They’re on the floor in my classroom!

They’ve run off with the hair bands…

Make them pay for them/earn them in some way. I started doing making them pay pbis rewards for them this year, and I have *literally* less than 1/10th the issues with pencils as I have in the past. I gave out over 1,000 last year by February, and this year I’ve only had to giv...

I put out 12 pencils to borrow at the start of each quarter. If they go missing, then that’s it for the quarter. I tell my students it’s not my problem if they are not prepared, and to go figure it out.

Why do you guys have to buy pencils for the class? Is that something that is expected by your school and required by law? In my home country 🇵🇱, children are expected to come to school with their pencil cases filled with pencils, pens, crayons, markers, a ruler, scissors, a ...

They’re probably all in the kids backpacks, and they don’t even know. I do not buy pencils. I scavenge them off the floor, and if there aren’t any, they’ve got to figure it out. I truly believe this is one of those things where we keep lowering the bar so much that they’r...

Im a middle school cleaner. I clean my own wing every day. I would say I sweep up 3 broken ones a day, and 4 non broken. I find then wedged in spaces in desks or chairs. At the end of the year I find then behind shelves. I often find some in the bathroom, and many times plunge...

Many smart people have suggested golf pencils and it works. Kids HATE them, and end up bringing better pencils. Signed, a very tired art teacher

The more I gave the more I lost. I don’t give any away anymore. That is not my problem. They are middle school students and they figure it out quick.

They ask for a pencil every day. One time I tell the lid to empty his pack back and there are 20 pencils at the bottom. They are so lazy they don't even look.

They just break them to pieces and throw them away. They didn't pay for it, and you'll just give them a new one tomorrow, why should they care?

I live across the street from a school. After my kids' first week of school, we went to play outside at the playground. I found 80 pencils on the ground! I've been going back whenever I can to pick more up. I usually get a solid 50-70 every time I go! When my kid's teachers as...

They MASSACRE the erasers on barely used pencils. Just pop em off for no reasons. Unforgivable.

One of my sophomores threw a pencil, hard, at my head when I turned away - it bounced off my glasses! I had removed all my pencils/pens last semester because they were being broken for fun, thrown, and ink smeared everywhere. It’s easier to just let them borrow from other stu...

I'm convinced they are eating them. It was so funny switching from MS to HS this past year. I would went through literally 1000's of pencils last year and I think i've bought maybe 2 boxes this whole school year. At least I can say anecdotally that they grow out of it 😂

I put a cup of pencils at the front of my room at the beginning of the year. At the end of each class I remind the students to return them or we'll run out. After a quarter I ran out. Several kids told me I needed to replace the pencils because we were out. I told them, "No, I...

If you give something to someone, it's of no value to them compared to something they had to pay for or bring from home. Don't give out pencils.

I feel like parents need to send their kids with school supplies. Just because they’re no longer in elementary school anymore doesn’t mean they don’t need something to write with, something to write on, and something to keep their papers in, at a minimum! This includes high sc...

we don’t know. we just put them somewhere at the end of the day and expect to get them the next and they end up disappearing.

This kept happening to me, too. Funny how everyone magically found a pencil or someone to borrow a pencil from when I bought pencils covered in hearts and unicorns. (I teach 9-12). Also effective: borrow a pencil for a shoe. (They find this hilarious.)

Well one kid, right now, is constantly pretending his pencil is a dick. He keeps deep throating it. I don’t even know how. Full size pencil. One day when he’s older, he, and the kid who would always run into my room and giggle that he’d seen 69, are gonna remember these mome...

I assume my kids just throw them away. They all disappear. No clue.

Stop buying pencils. "Bring a pencil or get a zero."

For some context, I worked at a school where kids put their backpacks in lockers at the start of the day, and carried around a bin with all their learning supplies in it. This was in an effort to prevent kids from messing with each others' backpacks. Anyway, had a similar is...

When I was in high school my teachers started a “rent a pencil” thing in their classrooms. If you want to borrow a pencil from them you had to give them something of yours that you’d get back at the end of class. A lot of shoes and purses were usually at the front of the class...

I bought golf pencils with erasers like a 300 count box or something and I still have most of them left. They’re a lot harder to snap in half and while some have definitely gone missing most just get left on their desks or the floor at the end of the period. I teach high schoo...

In my room, they get thrown on the floor - sometimes, they’re broken in half (or thirds) beforehand or the kids will scrape the yellow off and just leaves shavings of what was a pencil all over the table and floor. I try not to give out pencils. I also don’t leave scissors...

are pencil fights still a thing ?

Homes are filled with boxes of pencils. They leave them there. I collect about 1-2 a day left on the desk or the floor.

I would walk through the halls after last bell. Easily find 3-5 pens and pencils on the floor. I’d put them in the cup for anyone to use. When the cup went empty, I’d take another walk.

There was a similar post about this kind of thing earlier. I buy golf pencils. Those don't go missing nearly as often and cannot be broken in half easily. LOL

They are with the missing socks.

I’m not convinced that they don’t actually just eat them. With all the junk food these kids sneak into my room, I wouldn’t be surprised.

helped a kid clean out his desk this week. there were 10 in there 😑

I buy the ticonderoga beginner fat pencils. Can't snap in half. At the end of class, i ask for borrowed pencils back. They know the fat ones aren't theirs.

I stopped giving my kids pencils (MS teacher). I keep a bucket and all the pencils I find leftover in my classroom / hallway get put in that bucket. I tell the kids to look in the bucket. If I have extra great, if not, it's on them. I used to feel bad but now... I don't care. ...

I guarantee that those kids have at least 10-12 pencils at the bottom of their backpacks, but they’re too lazy to get one out. There’s been a couple times when a kid has asked for a pencil (for the 100th time) that I make a bet with them that they actually have one in their b...

My daughter teaches kindergarten and parents are expected to supply pencils to the shared supply bins, which they do. She has a friend who teaches middle school, and after her (daughter’s) pencils have no erasers and are chewed up, she puts them in a big baggie for her friend....

Not a teacher, but a paraprofessional. I pick them up off the hallway floors. Give them out. Find them on the floors. It’s a nonstop cycle. The kid I work 1:1 with had at least 25 in the bottom of his backpack when we were cleaning it out.

I had students breaking erasers (the rectangular kind) or turning them into cars or some art piece, so that they were no longer usable. They lost privileges. Now they have to cross things out instead of nicely erasing. For projects that need erasing (art, etc.) then they need ...

Sadly, they get destroyed. Broken in half, thrown across the room, pulled apart in ways you can't even think up. Then eventually thrown away.

I had a middle school teacher require you to give them your shoe if you borrowed a pencil. He would keep said shoe until the pencil was returned. We all suffered.

Judging from just my oldest child, they are all in the door of my car. I swear I supply pencils. I have a box full in the dning room. I remind them periodically to make sure they have some in their bag. But my oldest ALWAYS ended up with a random pencil and it ALWAYS ended...

I tell my students to go into pencil making as a career. With all the broken pencils I find, I imagine pencil sales are at an all-time high.

That's your mistake - providing them at your expense. The only spare pencils you provide should be those you collect from your classroom floor, the hallways, etc. Otherwise, you let the utensil-less kid try to barter using their social currency to get one from someone else...

I attach pens to clipboards with cord and hand those out. Really cuts down on the lost pencils.

I (parent of 2) hate to say it but they are all at my house. I’m sorry. I don’t know why my kids have such sticky fingers. TBF, we also apparently are leaving the ones I buy for them somewhere on school premises, but none of the ones we have at home are the ones they are losin...

I bought customized pencils with my room printed on it. Very rare they are lost now and they come back.

I taught in a computer lab. We got new desks that had a great feature for controlling the cords. It was a locked door on the back of the desk. Unfortunately, the students started putting broken pencils and trash in the compartment. MANY MANY pencils. Lots of trash…especially...

One 10th grader I have said to an 11th grader, "Here, use my pencil." And I had to reply, "Hey, that's MY pencil!"

Into Hershey's Pencils and Cream bars?

Well I know that 100 of those pencils are smashed on the desk by a couple of students, usually 3 each on a Monday. Almost every week. They just say that the pencil doesn't work and ask for another.

Golf pencils

Look up?

I think they eat them 🤣🤷‍♀️

🎶🎶🎶 where have all the pencils gone...? ✏ golf pencils was my answer

I am baffled by all the pencil discussions on here. I don't remember any pencil issues of this nature from when I went to school. There was the occasional kid that forgot but it wasn't an ongoing issue like it seems to be now. Back in the dinosaur ages if you couldn't borrow o...

I usually pick up 3-6 pencils every day, in the long walk from my room to my mailbox and back again!

I collect the ones that are snapped in two, super short, etc, sharpen them and provide them to my students until I remember to buy more. A lot of them learned if you don't want to be writing with a nub, bring your own pencil.

They go down the drains in the sinks in my lab. I’ve pulled enough of them out that I’m convinced I’m getting at least a few schools’ worth

I put five in the pencil holder at the beginning of the year. Anything that I pick up will go there. I don't care if they put them back or not but if there's not a pencil up there, I don't have anything available.

Years ago I put duct tape flags on my pencils and numbered them. I keep them in a cup on the board and tell them that they're free to use them whenever, just return them. This pretty much eliminated the issue of kids taking my pencils because they don't want a pencil that has ...

I wondered exactly that when I was student teaching in a middle school math class. Right after that, I had a long term sub position for the English teacher across the hall. I discovered that all the pencils that disappeared from math class magically reappeared on the floor i...

They break them in half and flick them across the classroom at each other

They eat them. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

Assuming they are not breaking them, then they are literally eating the pencils.

Golf pencils in bulk

with the socks from the dryer that disappear

I switched to only loaning out pens, and have lost maybe five in the last two years.

My students walk out the door with my pencils, panic, and throw them into the grass. I go and collect them back. I should let them grow into pencil trees.

To bus drivers and custodians, I’ve been both and I’ve always had a collection

I stopped giving pencils away. They earn tickets in school, so they have to use those tickets to buy pencils. They are unprepared if they don’t have tickets. Since doing that, just about all students have their own pencils. When they do “buy” one, they take the pencil with t...

The school bus. No really, I pick up 2-3 a day at the end of routes.

They are allllll on my bus. Some whole without erasers, but most are broken in half and totally unusable 😭😭. I have probably 20 good ones on my dash that I keep there if kids want to do some homework on the ride home 🤷🏽‍♀️. I have a mom friend who is a math teacher that I ...

They are at my house and they go through my sons laundry. I eventually bag them up and he takes a huge ziplock bag back to school.

Students that don’t return or keep them usually break or throw them away, I’ve have this issue every couple of years as some students break them for a variety of reasons. Each year this happened, I was able to find the culprits, albeit a hundred or so pencils later, but the ca...

They just disappear I swear. It is like pens. We have all probably gotten hundreds of pens in ours lives, but could probably count on our hands the amount of times we have had a pen actually run out of ink. They just get lost

I find brand new classroom pencils in the trash...because placing them 8 feet to the right is hard for a 6th grader.

I ordered golf pencils with erasers on Amazon because the kids don’t seem to like small pencils… but yes I agree with others about the students offering something for collateral.

Give them each a pencil. Make them name their pencil. Keep it in a box on your desk with numbered slots. Number the pencils. They write the name of their pencil as well. Shit, make them write a back story for the pencil with their pencil. At the start of class they collect th...

So many of our kids today are so effed up in the brain. Literally their brain wiring is effed up. This is why we have SOOO MUCH ADD, ADHD, DMDD, ODD, Autism, Anxiety and on and on. These kids are simply unable to keep track of anything. Put a pencil done, a jacket, a water bo...

In the school bus. We fill buckets weekly at our station on how many pencils are left behind at the end of every run. My recommendation, start getting golf pencils. They’re the bare minimum length to get writing and have no eraser. Bonus point if you get them in an abnoxiou...

Once we ran out of pencils mid-day, I told my students they’d just have to dig through their desk, ask around or borrow pencils from friends. Magically all but one student managed to find themselves a pencil. The one that couldn’t told me no one would lend them a pencil. Beca...

One year I decided that after December if kids repeatedly asked for pencils, I would replace them with short golf course scoring pencils. Thinking kids would be annoyed and do better keeping their normal pencils. Nope. Everyone loved and wanted the short pencils.

For mine it's the erasers. I have a bin full of new pencils that don't have erasers. That's what they get to use because I won't supply more.

Bus driver here, they leave them on the bus. My bus has perfectly good pencils and broken pencils almost every day. I keep the good ones and give them to kids if they need one, but I have collected about 100 so far this year.

Stop. dont waste your time or money

I usually have a drawer of some brand new ones at the beginning of the year. Throughout the year anytime I see one on the ground or find one, no matter the state, I picked it up and put it in my drawer. Kids have to use the crappy ones if they can’t bring a pencil and that usu...

I used to pick up pencils off the floor and that was all I would provide. I caught them throwing the pencils out when they weren't sharp enough, despite there being a sharpener next to the cup of pencils. I don't do anything anymore and they somehow survive.

I bribe kids with school “bucks” for pencils when I get low. Your youngest students will probably go overboard!