We can find pencils everywhere: at school, at home, at the office, even on the golf course. Because they are so common we tend to take them for granted.

The Story of Pencils: Technology and Tradition is a celebration of the most useful yet least appreciated writing instrument of all time: the world's only portable, lightweight invention that can draw a line 35 miles long, write an average of 45,000 words, absorb 17 sharpenings and delete its own errors.

The Story of Pencils is a complete lesson plan series provided to help your students learn more about how the modern pencil was developed, how it is made today and why pencils and other products made from wood, are good because they come from renewable resources.

The series was orginally designed for use by students in grades 3 through 6 in the social studies, science and environmental curricula and to fulfill the following objectives:

1. To instruct students on the history of the pencil and how it is made today.

2. To show how pencils are used by many kinds of people.

3. To outline the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources.

4. To educate students about forestry management in the United States and elsewhere in the world.

5. To target specific learning skills within each lesson plan.

The series currently consists of Six Lesson Plans each with background information, presentation suggestions and summary of the specific learning skills being addressed. Each plan is accompanied by a detailed activity sheet to support the lessons. Visit our Story of Pencils Lesson Plan & Activity Series listing here.

Each plan can be supplemented with additional information found within the Pencils.com website and suggested links are offered within the walkthrough to each plan. These supplemental links now help provide material to improve lesson plan relevance for middle school and even high school students. As we add more information pages to the Story of Pencils we will also expand the number of lesson plans. These plans will address topic areas related to pencils such as "The Economics of Pencil Manufacturing" and "Product Certification and Marketing".

We hope you will share with us your comments and suggestions for improvements to "The Story of Pencils". We encourage you to explore the other exciting new features we have added to our newly renamed Pencils.com website. We hope Pencils.com will become an increasingly valued learning community for teachers, students, parents, artists, writers, collectors and pencil enthusiasts alike.