POTTED PENS Keep track of the pens students borrow in class by turning pens into “flowers,” suggests Denise Pearson, a high school earth science teacher in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. She takes a regular pen and then uses green florist tape to attach an artificial flower (the bigger and more garish, the better) to the pen. She puts these “flower pens” in a clay pot on her desk for students to borrow as needed. The extra pens are unlikely to walk out of the room by mistake, she notes.

QUICK CLEANER To make your dirty coffee mugs and glass pots like new again, drop a denture tablet in them and fill with water, suggests retired Philadelphia teacher Jim Gallagher. Let the water stand, empty, rinse and wipe clean.

CORRECTIONS MEMO Sometimes students will “lose” their graded math tests after getting them back, notes Chelmsford, Mass., high school teacher Robert Bradman. Try passing out a “Corrections and Mistakes” memo sheet on colored paper when the test is returned to students. Ask them to record correct answers and procedures and to write out what their mistakes were. Collect the tests and memo sheet and keep a file for each student’s tests. It’s useful to have these on hand for future reference.

MARKER TOPS Here’s the answer to all of those lost permanent marker tops, says Hope Friedland of White Plains, N.Y. In her classroom she keeps a small plastic basket filled with tops from discarded markers. When a student misplaces a top, it easily can be replaced with one from her basket of extras.