Objective:
Students will be able to describe the many uses of the pencil.

Featured Learning Skills :
- association
- graphing
- biography

Lessons:
Prior to distributing the activity sheets (see .pdf attachment below), ask the students to think of all the different ways people use pencils (e.g. waitress, an architect). Continue the brainstorming until the class has come up with a list of 10 pencil users. Once this list is complete, pass out the activity sheets.

PART IA OPTION: Ask students to select a pencil user from the list they developed. Each individual or group will pick one of the pencil users and present an oral or written report on the proffession chosen. A written report might take the form of a biography, based upon "in the field" observation, while an oral report might consist of a role playing exercise showing the pencil user "in action" on the job.

PART II OPTION: Using collaborative learning groups, have the students consolidate their data by graphing the results for the group as a whole.

Answers:

PART I: BRAINSTORMING - Additional pencil users include writers (drafts of novels, stories, plays), news reporters and newscasters (interview notes), engineers (plans and drawings), scientists (experiments), teachers (lesson books), business people (meeting notes and memos), high school and colleges students (class notes and homework), golfers (scores) and parents (grocery shopping lists). One of the reasons wy people prefer pencils for certain uses is that it can be erased. (Ask them to consider whhat would happen if a make-up artisit used a pen instead of a pencil.)

WORD MATCH:
Architect............Blueprint
Student..............Math Homework
Artist...............Sketch Pad
Carpenter............Wood Board
Waiter/Waitress......Order Pad
Make-up Person.......Eyes
Sports Scorekeeper...Scorecard

PART IA: Written or oral reports can be judged upon depth of research, creativity, etc.

PART II: The blackest pencils were BBB

Where appropriate you can support this lesson plan with other information found within The Story of Pencils pages. In particular you may wish to check out our famous pencil users page.

(WoodChuck note: These Activity sheets are a bit dated. 3B was typically the darkest (softest) grade of graphitei used for writing purposes. Of course for drawing and sketching purposes much softer and harder grades ranging from 8B to 8H are commonly available.)