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My friend is a high school teacher, and she goes thru pencils quite quickly. I am going to order some with her name on them, but I want to put something on them to make them more un-stealable.
I know I have see pencil pots in the gallery, but can't find them now.
I also know I need the erasor not covered.
I was thinking about gluing a ribbon around the metal at the top and hanging something.
Buy the ugliest pencils you can find so the kids won't want to be seen with them? LOL.
I have to be honest I have often thought about buying some of the Jumbo packs of pencils to give to teachers as a group gift so they would know I understand their pencil pain!
Maybe you could stamp something on shrinky dinks/shrink plastic to hang from the ribbon. I have this vision of some big football player with a pencil with a ribbon on it :lol:
I know. I was thinking flowery and girly. Just because.
She mentioned having to stop and buy some before school, so I was looking online and want to get some that say "Mrs. R.'s Class". Course, they might think that is cool, so that is why I want to make them bigger to stuff in pockets!
Thanks for the shrinky dink idea.
I think I do have some school stamps...
I think it is a great idea, but after teaching for 11 years, I can tell you that there's not much that will defer a kid from keeping a pen they've "borrowed" from the teacher. Pencils that are really big (think made for kindergarteners) or really tiny (golf pencils) have the best shot at seeing the end of the week. I make my kids trade. Pencil? Sure. I'll take your left sneaker, thanks so much.
I made all my pens and pencils into the biggest gaudiest flowers ever and never lost one. Ever. Find the ugliest weirdest flower and trim the wire to about 2 inches. Wrap floral tape around the wire stem all the way down the pencil. Do not go back up because it will have to be 'peeled' to sharpen. Rip the tape and tape once more two or three times at the top of the stem. Floral tape sticks to itself so it should be good after 3 times. With pens you can glue the flower on the tops after wrapping the pen body.
I used gold poinsettias and puce colored daffodils. They hated to even borrow it. It was so obvious when an administrator walked in and saw they did not have their supplies. I taught middle and highs school...a little embarrassment goes a looonngg way there.
I made all my pens and pencils into the biggest gaudiest flowers ever and never lost one. Ever. Find the ugliest weirdest flower and trim the wire to about 2 inches. Wrap floral tape around the wire stem all the way down the pencil. Do not go back up because it will have to be 'peeled' to sharpen. Rip the tape and tape once more two or three times at the top of the stem. Floral tape sticks to itself so it should be good after 3 times. With pens you can glue the flower on the tops after wrapping the pen body.
I used gold poinsettias and puce colored daffodils. They hated to even borrow it. It was so obvious when an administrator walked in and saw they did not have their supplies. I taught middle and highs school...a little embarrassment goes a looonngg way there.
As a former bank teller the only thing that worked 99% of the time to have a pen returned was to leave off the cap (and to not use click-style pens). A customer even got mad once 'coz the pen leaked in his pocket!
I think the big flower idea would work for pencils (unless they are so pretty that they grow legs and walk away.)
my dad always had a stash of gray pencils imprinted with: Stolen from the desk of William R....
he always knew when we walked off with them.
OT; the plastic spoon idea made me think that my daughter's theater group is playing a game right now where they all got a plastic spoon and can not be seen without it or they are out. (they can put it down during class or when they are rehearsing on stage.) she carries around with her everywhere. Funny to see.
I make my kids trade. Pencil? Sure. I'll take your left sneaker, thanks so much.
I'd never heard of that one until just this week. My daughter (sixth grade) said that one of her teachers asks for either a shoe or their belt (required by standardized dress code, so they won't get far in the hall without it).
Not appropriate for school at all but I saw a pack of ink pens in a gag gift shop that had things like "Ted's Taxidermy. You Kill 'Em We Stuff 'Em" and such. I wish I had bought them just because they were so darn funny. But some of them had sexual references so it would be totally inappropriate for school.
But maybe if you're paying to have them imprinted you could think of something clever to have put on them that might embarrass the thief if anyone read it.
I think it is a great idea, but after teaching for 11 years, I can tell you that there's not much that will defer a kid from keeping a pen they've "borrowed" from the teacher. Pencils that are really big (think made for kindergarteners) or really tiny (golf pencils) have the best shot at seeing the end of the week. I make my kids trade. Pencil? Sure. I'll take your left sneaker, thanks so much.
There were 5 of us growing up, and I guess we always stole my mom's pencils, because one year she got a set of red ones that said "Mom's Poisoned Pencils"
Pencils are never going to stay in a classroom. Sorry. Asking for a trade works, but barely. I put plastic spoons on mine once, and they just broke them off - and I was in a good school! On the bright side, when I walk the halls of my school, I almost always find dropped ones.
__________________ Diana
*******
Save your drama for your llama.
But maybe if you're paying to have them imprinted you could think of something clever to have put on them that might embarrass the thief if anyone read it.
Maybe print on them "I stole this pencil from Mrs. Smith"
...i love the spoon idea...i have also attached string to pencils and then duct taped the string to the chairs or desks...no lost pencils there...and i have used the collateral idea...your shoe for my pencil...:rolleyes:...
Maybe we could strike a deal with Michael's when they are about to compact their out of season flowers that they tell us so we can make pencil bouquets for the teachers.
You could label a pencil cup "Mrs. Smith's Rent-a-Pencil" and fill it with pencils. Before I retired from teaching, I charged my high school students a quarter to rent a pencil - of course they got the money back when they returned it. If they didn't return the pencil I bought more pencils.
teacher pencils
