Eight years later and I finally found the most effective way to save pencils and make them last longer. I am not sure how, but every single year I seem to lose hundreds of pencils into a mysterious blackhole inside of my classroom. No, really. I can set out a brand new pack of Dixon Ticonderoga pencils on a Monday morning, and every single pencil has somehow disappeared by Wednesday afternoon. If you also struggle with losing pencils, I have the perfect solution for you. The pencil challenge! It’s so easy and only requires pencils and masking tape. The rules are simple too – each student receives their personal pencil at the beginning of the week and it is tagged as theirs. You can do this by writing their initials, class number, or their name, on tape that you attach to their pencil. Students are required to keep track of their pencil all week long and if they have it on Friday afternoon then they get some sort of reward. For my class, students earn $20 for our classroom economy, and if they have lost their pencil then they pay $20 to purchase a new one. It sounds too good to be true, but I promise that it’s not. We have been doing the pencil challenge in my classroom for three weeks now and I have only had 3 students who needed to purchase a new pencil. Comment below if you try it out in your classroom. Happy teaching! (: