Now that I think back on it, there weren’t many ”projects” or other memorabilia from my elementary and even high school days that made it home at the end of the school year. Oh sure, there were the certificates for achievements in elementary school for things like “Best Classroom Helper,” “Perfect Cafeteria Attendance” and “ Nice Effort.”

I did make a 24-inch-tall dragon out of chicken wire and plaster that I was told would be in the art show at our high school in Virginia. I think I may have used too much plaster because the school forklift wasn’t available the night of the show to move it out of the art room. I’m not sure what happened to it, but I heard the school might have donated it to the shipyard in Norfolk to tow out on a barge to use for naval gunnery practice. 

I did complete a few ceramics projects that made it through both kiln firings in Ken Roe’s ceramics class at Sky View High School without blowing up. One of them is a teapot with a bamboo handle that sits on my desk at school this very moment loaded with pencils, pens and syringes full of caffeine.

When my teaching career began, I remember thinking that it might be a good idea to come up with something that my students could keep pencils in that wasn’t a footlocker or plastic pencil box. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I hate plastic pencil boxes per se. What I don’t appreciate is the noise it makes when students are digging through their hundreds of writing and coloring utensils trying to find that one specific broken crayon. It sounds like someone sorting tinker toys, and of course when they fall out of their desk it sounds like a “Bouncing Betty” landmine exploding on contact.

As I looked around at home in my carport shed (about the size of a porta-potty) I found a piece of 4x4 post that had been cut off the footings for our deck and thought if I cut it in pieces and drilled holes in it, it might just work as something kids could put on their desktops to use as a pencil receptacle. No lead? Broken? No problem, there are five spares right there to choose from.

My first prototypes were made from landscaping beams that were rounded on two sides and painted with that redwood-looking stain (pre-treatment) which I opted to sand off because it would leave residue if touched. Of course the kids wouldn't touch them would they? Ha!

I finally settled on regular pine or sometimes even redwood if the price was right to cut the blocks out of. I have my own hand-held belt sander now that I use to sand the entire post with, then I set up my chop saw on a table in the shade under our apple tree and cut the 4x4x4 inch blocks. I bring my portable drill press out and drill the holes big enough for five or six regular pencils, a Sharpie marker and a small hole that holds an American flag.

Some years when finances have been tight, I’ve reached out to my 13 followers on Facebook who have come through with flying colors and donated pieces of 4x4 posts that they’ve had laying around their yards or job sites — people helping people, I love it. 

After the blocks are cut, I hand sand the edges and the tops so they are nice and smooth. While sitting outside in the shade working on the blocks, Lynda came up and made the comment, “You know it would go faster if you used the little hand sander.” I agreed it would go quicker, but I’ve come to enjoy taking each block and as I’m working on it recognizing the patterns in the grain of the wood, the many imperfections, dings, chips and cracks from shipping and large knots, all of which (for me) makes the piece more unique.

Those imperfections and oddities in the wood, along with the beautiful grain and character of each piece, are just like my students. They come to me each year with rough edges and dings. Some have smooth, even surfaces while others don’t expose their inner beauty until they’ve been tried, worked and sanded. 

I firmly believe that kids respect, care for and appreciate things they take ownership of, especially in school. The plain wooden blocks at the beginning of the year begin to transform and change just as the kids progress during the school year. They personalize them by adding their own decorations, stickers, pictures, motto’s, etc., adorning them with holiday decorations and photos, and then on the last day of school, they take them home. I’ve had kids leave books, jackets, lunch boxes, backpacks and shoes, but I’ve never had one leave their pencil holder.

I'm surprised every year at our graduation when I have former students (many with their own families now) tell me they still have their pencil holders from 5th grade, and I wonder what memories the items hold for them. As I enter my last year of teaching and consider what it will be like to not begin August with my pencil-holder project, I’m reminded that I won’t have to actually go back to my classroom to reminisce; I’ll just have to wander to the end of aisle 10 in the lumber yard.

Chad Hawkes is a fifth grade teacher at North Park Elementary School. He can be reached by email at chad.hawkes@ccsdut.org.

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