Introducing: The Purple Pencil Sharpener!

A few years ago, I first introduced you to the "quietest classroom pencil sharpener". I have fallen in LOVE with this pencil sharpener and even ordered myself a pink one when they were released last year. I share my pencil sharpener with all my co-workers and try to spread the word every chance I get... Well, you can imagine my excitement when I recently found out that Classroom Friendly Supplies was adding a PURPLE pencil sharpener to their collection, and I knew that I *must* add it to my collection as well.... so, allow me to introduce you to.... the "Popular Purple Pencil Sharpener"!!!  Look how cute it is!!  I love purple almost as much as I love pink, so of course I was thrilled with the new color choice.  In addition to being super functional, I love the cute retro look of these sharpeners, and I love how small they are.  


Since I now own THREE of this fabulous pencil sharpeners, I decided to see how they are holding up after one and two years of use in the classroom, and compare it to the brand-new purple sharpener.  I also compared it to a popular electric sharpener that was kindly "donated" to me at one of my schools this year.  Check out my results below:
As you can see, even after one and two years of daily use in the classroom, both my green and my pink sharpeners are able to keep up with the quality of the new purple pencil sharpener.  I am in love with this new color and so happy to add it to my collection.  Stop by Classroom Friendly Supplies to order your sharpener today!

Valentine Love {a FREEBIE and a giveaway}

In honor of Valentine’s Day next week, I wanted to share the love with you, my wonderful blog readers and supporters!  Today I have an AWESOME freebie, and a giveaway :)  Read on for all the details!

As a first year teacher, I taught in a really nice area, and the room mother had an amazing valentine party planned for my class. All of my students made home-made boxes, and we had a great party. The following year, I moved to a low-income school, and quickly realized I was not going to have that same support. Being a new teacher, I was still REALLY into parties.... So of course I had to order cute valentine bags from oriental trading. I won't tell you how many hours I spent hot gluing fuzzy pom-poms to curly pipe cleaners... But it's safe to say that I've taken things down a notch or two over the years. I still enjoy parties, it just gets a little hard when you don't have a lot of parent support and have to plan it all yourself.... That's where the idea for these valentine bags were born. It actually started as a hallway bulletin board idea, then I realized they would look perfect on a bag.... Ta-da! I've been making these bags with my class for a few years now, and they always get a kick out of it. I make these bags with the whole class a few days before Valentine’s Day, which ensures that every child will have something to take their valentines home in. My students are still welcome to decorate a box at home, but I realize that not everyone gets to do that, so these bags prevent any child from having to take their things home in a walmart bag.

Today I'm going to share them with you... you will be able to download the pattern and directions for FREE, exclusively on the blog :) (and I bet you already have everything you need to make these!)  If you use them and love them, please leave me some feedback... I love reading comments :)

 

Click on the picture for the pattern and directions.

And now… the giveaway!!  I had originally planned to do this for my birthday, but I was so sick that I had no energy to do ANYTHING… so why not do it now?! Up for grabs today is one of the “quietest pencil sharpeners” from Classroom Friendly Supplies… what better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with a super cute PINK pencil sharpener (I think I will have to give in and buy a pink one since I can’t seem to get lucky and win it on any other blog).

 I’ve told you before about how much I love this pencil sharpener, and I still swoon every time I sharpen my students’ pencils.  One week recently, I was being lazy and used my electric pencil sharpener, thinking that my students wouldn’t really notice… OH NO… they definitely noticed!! I even heard one student say “Look, she didn’t sharpen them all the way” LOL! Busted!! Lesson learned…. Always sharpen with the quietest pencil sharpener :)  Use the rafflecopter below to enter… and don’t worry, if PINK isn’t your thing, you can pick any color from their pencil sharpener collection.  Giveaway closes on February 15th, so the winner will be announced next weekend... stay tuned :)

** please note, this giveaway is open to US residents only due to shipping purposes. Thanks!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Quietest Pencil Sharpener

 Hi everyone, today I am talking about Classroom Friendly Supplies! Have you heard of them?? “Classroom friendly supplies” was created by a teacher, because who knows better than a teacher what a teacher needs, right?? I have seen countless posts about the "quietest classroom pencil sharpener" floating around the teacher / blogger world, but I was still a skeptic. I couldn't imagine that a small, hand-cranked pencil sharpener could possibly work better than my big bad beast of an electric pencil sharpener, so I contacted the creator, Troy, and told him of my disbelief. He immediately sent me one of his amazing pencil sharpeners to try in my classroom (and I must take a moment to apologize to Troy - the pencil sharpener arrived the day I was going out of town, and the day I returned, we ended up taking my dad to the ER, and the whole rest of the month is a blur between hospital visits and setting up my classroom!) Now that I have finally settled into something of a routine in my classroom, I was ready to break out the pencil sharpener and give it a shot. 

So here's what comes in the box.... I was surprised at how little is actually is. I put it side by side with my "beast" pencil sharpener, and it just looked so cute and tiny... 

 



 

I decided to try a few different pencils and do some side by side comparing, and I really think the photos speak for themselves.... I started with just a normal pencil and put one in each sharpener. Any guesses as to which pencil was sharpened by the quietest pencil sharpener?

 

Well if you guessed orange, you'd be right! I can't tell you how happy I was after just 1 pencil. But then came the real test. The pencils I have for my students are a little bit bigger / thicker than standard pencils, and I was worried that they wouldn’t fit…. Luckily they did, so I began sharpening… (I don’t think you could fit anything too much bigger in this sharpener though, so if you love the chubby kindergarten pencils, it might not work.)

 

Here's a side-by-side picture of my students' pencils prior to sharpening them.... Wowzers!! Just LOOK at those tips!! I was seriously in SHOCK! My "beast" pencil sharpener could never deliver a point like that. Not gonna lie, I was impressed.... I sharpened pencil after pencil...

I wasn't sure what to think when I came across this broken pencil.... As much as I love my indestructible pencils, there's always one child who will find a way to break these.... Once they are broken like this, I usually have to throw them away.... I decided to put the pencil sharpener to the ultimate test, and as you can see, it passed with flying colors!

 

All it took was one afternoon of sharpening and I was in love. But wait, it gets better... The quietest pencil sharpener is now available in PINK!!! Woah!!! Hold the phone.... I am definitely going to be ordering a PINK pencil sharpener to match all of the pink in my classroom (annnnd.... I know...I still need to post my classroom makeover pics... I will get to it soon, I promise!) Want to know the best part about the pink pencil sharpeners?  $1 from the sale of every Precious Pink Pencil Sharpener is donated to cancer research and awareness! Breast cancer is something near and dear to my heart, and has affected many of my family members...so anything that supports cancer research is a win in my book.  And seriously?! How adorable is this?!?!

 

Oh, and did I mention that all of their orders include FREE SHIPPING?!  That's right. The price you see is the price you pay. No extra charges for shipping. And since most of us pay for many school supplies out of our own pocket, every little bit counts!

 Okay I have rambled on long enough.... One last thing to tell you about these pencil sharpeners.... The down side.... The morning after I sharpened all the pencils, my students definitely noticed a difference in the sharpness of the lead. My boys were running from table to table showing off their SHARP pencils.... And arguing over whose pencil was sharper. HA! It was so funny. You'd think they had never seen a sharp pencil in their entire lives. Three days later, the pencils were still going strong and I hadn't had to sharpen a single one. I think I am in pencil sharpener heaven! Thank you, classroom friendly supplies, for the awesome pencil sharpener!

PS, if you're still reading this, remember to enter for your chance to win the 1st grade homework pack from Second Story Window.  Click HERE  to enter.