I've mentioned before that I had a LOT of stuff brought to my room for my new position from the previous teacher. As I was sorting I found this electric pencil sharpener and I was soooooo excited.
Previously, this was the only pencil sharpener in the room:
(Can you see why I was so excited now? This clearly isn't safe!)
It was so terrible I bought pens and mechanical pencils for my kids last year. I was done with pencils. I went to sharpen pencils for the first day with the new electric sharpener and it took TWO MINUTES to partially sharpen one pencil!
I wanted to scream. That is WAY too long to sharpen a pencil, especially with a loud sharpener. Then Troy from Classroom Friendly Supplies sent me this sharpener:
I know you've seen it around. It is AMAZING! It's easy to use:
Just pull out the metal thing (I'm sure that's the technical term)
hold the clips to put your pencil (of varying sizes) in and turn the handle.
hold the clips to put your pencil (of varying sizes) in and turn the handle.
Easy! It makes a slightly different sound when the pencil is sharp so it doesn't over sharpen and break the point off. It took about 15 handle-turns to sharpen a brand new pencil (it was only a few seconds). It's quiet too so it won't interrupt lessons. Annnddd you get a perfect point every time!
I sharpened 2 identical brand new pencils with both sharpeners. Look at the difference! The classroom friendly sharpener made a perfect point (after a few seconds). The electric sharpener did not do so well (that was after about a minute of LOUD sharpening).
One of my aides went to sharpen pencils before I could show her how to use it and she figured it out immediately. I wanted to wait to review the sharpener until my students used it. It's only been a day and some of them can do it easily. Others keep forgetting to pull it out first but other than that, no issues! Even the students with OT and PT had no trouble using this. My students with autism like the fact that it is not loud.
A bunch of the teachers who have been in my room tried it and they all love it. Many of them are ordering one for their rooms. It's definitely a great investment! The electric sharpeners are more expensive, much louder, need to be near an outlet, and they don't work nearly as well!
You can grab yours here!
I'll be back soon to post about my first few days of school assuming we have power (we keep getting big storms thanks to Issac). I hope you all had a great week!
I sharpened 2 identical brand new pencils with both sharpeners. Look at the difference! The classroom friendly sharpener made a perfect point (after a few seconds). The electric sharpener did not do so well (that was after about a minute of LOUD sharpening).
One of my aides went to sharpen pencils before I could show her how to use it and she figured it out immediately. I wanted to wait to review the sharpener until my students used it. It's only been a day and some of them can do it easily. Others keep forgetting to pull it out first but other than that, no issues! Even the students with OT and PT had no trouble using this. My students with autism like the fact that it is not loud.
A bunch of the teachers who have been in my room tried it and they all love it. Many of them are ordering one for their rooms. It's definitely a great investment! The electric sharpeners are more expensive, much louder, need to be near an outlet, and they don't work nearly as well!
You can grab yours here!
I'll be back soon to post about my first few days of school assuming we have power (we keep getting big storms thanks to Issac). I hope you all had a great week!
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I need one of these for my second classroom.
ReplyDeleteSpecial Teaching in the Middle
Aw Man! I was totally sold...but so was everyone else! They are sold out! Thanks for sharing! Not too many people (aside from teachers) know the true value of a good pencil sharpener. Unfortunately, I have gone through at least 6 electronic sharpeners (a couple of battery included) and something always happens! The last one, I dropped...womp womp! Anywho, here's hoping they restock soon.
ReplyDeleteI love, love, love mine! I want to order another one (or two!)! They always seem to be sold out but even on backorder it arrived quickly. Still waiting for Red Troy.... LOL!
ReplyDeleteMisty
Think, Wonder, & Teach
I was surprised at how much I liked it! It's definitely the best sharpener I've used!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny that we all get so excited about pencil sharpeners! I totally feel you - bad pencil sharpeners drive me nuts! And so many of the electric ones are too loud for my kiddos with autism too!
ReplyDelete- Sasha
The Autism Helper