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Police in Waycross say a group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher and brought a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job.

Police say the students assigned children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward.

Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner says the plot by as many as nine boys and girls at Center Elementary in south Georgia was a serious threat.

Police arrested two of the students yesterday on juvenile charges and released them to their parents. They plan to charge a third child.

Tanner says the children ages 8 to 10 apparently were mad at the teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair. He says police seized a steak knife with a broken handle, steel handcuffs, duct tape, electrical and transparent tape, ribbons and a crystal paperweight from the students.

The police chief says the students apparently planned to knock the teacher unconscious with the paperweight, bind her with the handcuffs and tape and then stab her with the knife.

District Attorney Rick Currie says he decided to seek juvenile charges against only three of the students two girls, ages 9 and 10 who brought the knife and paperweight and an 8-year-old boy who brought tape. He says all three students face charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, and both girls are being charged with bringing weapons to school.