Yeah, It's Really That Great!

First of all, thanks to all who took advantage of my flash sale yesterday! It definitely warmed my heart to see so many of you downloading my morning work :-)

In other news, I felt like a kid on Christmas when our mailman dropped off my Classroom Friendly Supplies pencil sharpener the other day! I'm sure you've seen this pencil sharpener ALL over the blogs recently, so I decided to see what all the hype was about... Oh my gosh. Is it weird to be in love with a pencil sharpener?

Now, I must admit... I was very a little skeptical at first. I've had many pencil sharpeners over the last few years and have had terrible luck with all of them. My school issued pencil sharpener sharpens crooked, the electric one is loud and jams every 2 seconds, and the "fancy" one I bought fell apart. I was about to call it quits. Then I read wonderful things about this little guy, and knew I had to give it a shot. So, I put it to the test!

It passed the Ticonderoga test with flying colors. Perfectly sharp points, and it is VERY quiet! However, it wasn't the Ticonderoga pencils I was worried about. You know those cheap little pencils that all your students have for every stinking holiday that are wrapped in that terrible plastic sleeve? Those pencils used to be the death of me. The points would snap, and I would end up grinding away half the pencil before the kid ever used it. So, I dug out some of those suckers and gave my new sharpener the test. Again, perfectly sharp on the very first sharpen, and it was STILL quiet.

In all honesty, here's what I love MOST about this sharpener. I've used other sharpeners with grippers before, but what sets this one apart is that there's a little bar that keeps the gripper extended for you while you put the pencil in. I've never seen anything like it, and I KNOW that my first graders will be able to use it because of that. The sharpener also comes with a little clamp to tighten it to a table or other surface. I probably won't use the clamp, not because I don't like it, but because I can't find a good place in my room to set it up. The clamp is nice, but not totally necessary. If you put one hand on top of the sharpener while you're using it, it stays in place just fine.

I mean really... Check out those points!! Love love love.

If you're interested in taking the plunge with a sharpener of your own, check out their website - they come in tons of fun colors!

In other OTHER news, I added a new classroom set-up pack to my TPT shop. This one is polka dots and owls, as per the request of the new first grade teacher in our building :-) Click the picture to check it out!

Have a good night!