Best Pencil Sharpener I Have Ever Used!!! ( And A Better Week! )

 

A while back I pinned some info on what was described as the best and last pencil sharpener you will ever want to use....  As an art teacher to elementary age children it sounded good so I checked it out...

I went to the Classroom Friendly Supplies page to check out this pencil sharpener that teachers were raving about.  The sharpeners are attractive and look just like a regular sharpener with one major difference...  IT TRUELY IS THE BEST SHARPENER I HAVE EVER USED!!!

How many of you have buckets of pencils that never sharpen right or the pencil lead constantly falls out right after you have sharpened it?  I know I had a bucket filled with pencils that I wouldn't throw out even though they would not sharpen in my electric sharpener!  Up till now, I thought electric sharpeners were the busy teachers friend, not anymore!  After using the Classroom Friendly Sharpener for the past couple of weeks at school it is now the ONLY sharpener I will be using in my art room!   Sorry electric sharpener, you have done your time and served us in the art room to the best of your ability but we are parting ways...

 

Troy from Classroom Friendly Supplies was very generous and sent me my very own sharpener to try out in my classroom and review for all of you.  I even got to pick my own color!  (Blue, of course )

Let me tell you this seemingly simple and ordinary sharpener is nothing short of genius!

I had sooo many of these poor pencils that still had a lot of life left to them but they would never sharpen right.  The pencil points constantly fell out, they sharpened sideways so all we had was a pointy piece of wood, etc... 

I think the secret is in the grip those little teeth have on the pencil so it doesn't wiggle around inside when sharpening.

So I set up my nice blue Classroom Friendly Sharpener and decided to try it out....

My pathetic pencils went from this...

To this!!!

I was floored!!!  I sharpened the pencils on Monday and we used them all day Monday and Wednesday before I needed to re-sharpen them.  There was the occasional pencil break but that was due to student error, not pencil malfunction! 

The kids even like to watch me sharpen them!  I can carry the sharpener right to their table and sharpen it in a flash! 

 

Just watch this video clip to see how easy this sharpener is to use.  I can sharpen all my pencils for the day in no time!  I have gotten quite quick at it.  Once they are sharpened the first time it takes seconds to re-sharpen them.  I have two art rooms... The electric sharpener at my 3d-5th grade school has been ticking me off the past few weeks...  I bought good (expensive) pencils this year because I thought that was the problem...  My electric pencil sharpener has been going on a murderous rampage on my good, expensive pencils!

So my bloggy friends if you are beside yourself with anxiety because your pencils just won't sharpen correctly I HIGHLY recommend you go to Classroom Friendly Supplies and get yourself one of these sharpeners!  I am buying a second one for my other art room before my electric pencil sharpener wastes away all my good pencils!

Again, I want to thank Troy for sending me one of his amazing sharpeners!  So RUN, don't walk and go over to Classroom Friendly Supplies and get yourself one of these sharpeners for your classroom/home!

 

My pre-assessments are done (YEAH!!!) It was like a hallelujah chorus went off in my head Wednesday afternoon when my last class finished!  Now I just have to finish my spread sheets this weekend and fill in the base line data.  We are FINALLY doing art work in the art room!!!m  Third grade is creating their version of Klimt's the Tree of Life, fourth grade is working on shape and intermediate colors and fifth grade is working on form and value.  Kindergarten and first grade are working with shape and line and second grade is designing architecture in the style of Klee with simple shapes. 

 

I bought Crayola oil pastels this year instead of my tried and true Cray-Pas.  The kids really like the Crayola...  The Crayola is fatter so they are getting a better grip on them and they are easier for them to work with.  The Crayola seems a little more solid than the Cray-pas and don't break as easy but are still smooth and easy to blend.

 

Yeah!!!  The drying racks are filled with paintings!  My supply table is loaded with materials for the day!  I could't find the personal size color wheels I made last year  (of course I put them away at the end of last year so I wouldn't lose them!  Do you think I could find/remember where I put  them today!?!)  So I quick printed out more and double laminated them for Tuesday.  Just need to cut them out.

 

Just a quick peek at a shawl/scarf I made the end of this summer with some of my yarn stash thats been sitting around for a long time.  I found and purchased the perfect pattern at Creative Designs 

by Sheila Zachariae. It is her easy Triangle Scarf pattern that I purchased from her Etsy shop.  I ended up crocheting up two more!  One in a variegated, purple-pink and one in variegated Fall colors.  Both are sock yarns.  I love how the granny stitch works up so tiny with the sock yarn!  I ran out of the blue/yellow yarn before I was done and couldn't get any more at the store (I could purchase it on-line but I was impatient to finish it in August) so I found some brown which in the end looked a little bit too "in my face" when finished.  I crocheted the little flowers with the little blue I had left and added them to the brown border. They were the perfect solution for balancing out the colors! 

I am off to have a well deserved rest this weekend! Hope you all have the same!

Mrs.C  :)

(I just realized that this is my 100th post!!!  WOW!  Thanks everybody out there who stops by to read and comment! And thanks to all of you in blogland who share your ideas/inspiration with all of every day!  Yeah you! )