World's BEST Pencil Sharpener

 

Pencils.

Necessary in kindergarten but such a headache for me.

 

I inherited a mechanical sharpener bolted to the counter that merely chewed pencils until it left only a gnarly stub. I banned the use of that device and created a sharpened pencil tub. Students were to leave a broken pencil and get a nice fresh sharp pencil in return. It worked.. kind of. I have a hate/hate relationship to the electric sharpener. It is so loud and never really works.. how does it only sharpen one side??? I NEVER let kids use it.. because I couldn't stand the noise.

 

I made PENICLS a class  job. The idea was a student would come in before the bell to sharpen pencils. I would plug in the sharpener by the back door (as far away from my desk as possible) and put them to work... Well, the sharpener gets too hot after about 4 pencils so.. I never had enough sharpened pencils. Thankfully, I usually have a little group of pencil hoarders that will have 6 or more pencils in their desk. I have said, "who has a pencil for ....." more then once.

 

I often sent bags of broken pencils and that cheap pencil sharpener home for parents to deal with. I always felt bad doing it.. knowing that it would take hours.

 

Over the summer I learned about Classroom Friendly Supplies on one of the various kindergarten blogs I read. Even at $24.99 and FREE shipping I didn't order. I couldn't spend money on a new pencil sharpener when I had one in my classroom that worked... kind of.. that I had already spent $45.00! The bloggers loved it.. I saw it on Pinterest and I even visited the website.

 

Last month I went to sharpen a pencil and nothing happened. Electric sharpener officially dead.

Excited.

 

I went to the website  and ordered. It came REALLY fast.

THIS IS THE BEST SHARPENER EVER!!

I can sharpen a NEW pencil in less then 30 seconds. I counted 20 rotations and I got a perfect sharp tip. I taught my class how to use it.. it has gotten a lot of use the last two weeks and it is holding up just fine. It sharpens perfectly every time. The best part.. it is SUPER quiet! I sharpened pencils while I was on the phone!

I am NOT getting paid or a free sharpener to write this. I just love it that much!

It comes in red, blue, black, and green :)

 

 

We had a very busy 100th Day of School! -- I know that my door is just "lovely" - HA! That was the best I could do at 4:05 the afternoon before! The kids LOVED it!

 

 

 

 

 

I assigned a 100 days of school poster project. I love how they are all different!

 

 

 

I love this poem. I found it on  Pinterest (of course.. which is now tragically blocked at work!)

 

Here is my lesson menu- we didn't have time to do everything. We are going to do some of these activities this week.

 

 

 

The Hat

Just sharing our door- we read books from the same author during Literacy week and compared the texts. Here is our craft from The Hat. I love Hedgie! This idea was totally copied from The Chalk Talk blog-

Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Last week we spent two days learning about the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is so refreshing to me that my students think the segregation laws were absolutely absurd. They looked at me in disbelief when I told them that black people couldn't eat at the same restaurants as white people. They give me hope for the future.

 

This is probably too late for most- but this is what I taught last week. link here

 

 

Author Visit

We were SO lucky this week!! Nick Bruel the author of Bad Kitty came to our school. He read us Bad Kitty and Poor Puppy. He also talked about how he writes his books and took questions from the kids. He was AMAZING!! I know this experience will stay with  my students forever. They were so impressed to meet a REAL author/illustrator!

Unspeakable Sadness

Yesterday, I thought about posting an entry about our school board and the guy they just hired and then fired after 4 days but paid 9,000+ for a month of work. I thought about posting an entry about how tired I am after planning lessons aligned with the Common Core Standards but still matching the district pacing guide while consulting the Art and Science of Teaching so I can become an innovating teacher...

Today,  none of that matters.

 

Children are supposed to be safe at school. Everyday I am responsible for 18 precious lives. I assure their parents that I will take care of them - that they will be safe and they will see them again at 3:20. I feel their heads when they complain of illness. I prescribe wet paper towels for itchy bug bites and invisible boo-boos. I hold garbage cans underneath their mouths when the stomach bug hits. I apply Band-Aids to cuts and scratches.. old or new.

Today, I am forced to think about - to make a plan- how to hide 18 precious children in their sanctuary- our classroom.
 I can't turn off the news. I can't look away. I can't stop thinking about the anguish for this community.

My prayers go out Sandy Hook Elementary.

 

A Day in The Life...

I stumbled across a blog that chronicled a day in the life of people through photos. I thought I'd try it.. it was hard to remember to take photos-- and I picked a not so typical day- it was our Native American Pow Wow. The students cycled through centers in 4 classrooms and then sang 2 songs before our Thanksgiving Feast. It was a fun and busy day!

Free digital slideshow customized with Smilebox