A pencil sharpener that doesn't make me cuss in my head....

So our traveling trivia team - Teachers In Tiaras - the TIT's totally kicked butt in the competition!   We also won the best costume category and I won two door prizes!  Score!   I won a foot massager thing and a set of stinky perfume.    We had a very funny and fun time.   My sides are literally sore from laughing so hard.

So now I am home with a husband and son who are not feeling well,  and two little ones who are wrecking the house. And... plans need to be written.   Luckily it is only four days worth.     My team is starting a chapter book study of Judy Blume books.   We don't have enough copies to all do the same book at the same time so some of us will be working on Amy Lemons - The One in the Middle is a Green Kangaroo unit http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-One-in-the-Middle-is-the-Green-Kangaroo and some of us will start with my Freckle Juice unit. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Freckle-Juice-A-Novel-Study  Then we will switch.   I am excited about it.   Also super excited about a long weekend.   Summer is within sight peeps! 

One thing I have been meaning to blog about but haven't yet is my new pencil sharpeners.   I should start by saying,   I do not understand why we can pretty much rule the world with our cell phones,  but no one has come up with a better plan than the PENCIL.   I hate them.   The constant breaking,  the dulling,  the dollar store pencils that don't sharpen, the decorative pencils that peel and clog the gears, the pencils that sharpen sideways and break the first time you put them to paper.... I could write a book about how much I hate pencils.   But what I have hated more than pencils is freaking pencil sharpeners.   They cost half of your budget money,  and sound like helicopter taking off in the back of the room.   Then some little person thinks it is fun to try to stick their pencil in eraser side first and it is time to buy a new one.    I had made a no pencil sharpening rule in my room.    I sharpened them all myself and left them in a can.   It was a pain. 

Then I bought these.  http://www.classroomfriendlysupplies.com/

To say that they have changed my life is not really an understatement.   They are old fashioned,  heavy duty pencil sharpeners.   They are really easy to use...  like I have lifted the no sharpening rule and actually let the kids sharpen them.   And here is the super important part.... they are SUPER QUIET.   For real.   Like,  I don't even notice a kid is sharpening a pencil, QUIET.   Like, no walls shake when I am sharpening pencils, QUIET.   Like,  I have stopped the constant flow of cussing in my head when a pencil is being sharpened, QUIET.   Seriously, quiet.  And they sharpen ALL pencils - even the dollar store ones!   They were created by a teacher,  so made by someone really knows.   Just like the best curriculum comes from TpT and other real teacher sites,  the best pencil sharpener comes from teacher.   I love these things.   I bought a set of 3 - gave one to my bestie and kept two in my room which saved me some money and I got them for $17.99 each with free shipping!   Worth every cent.   My only issue with them is that the clamp that is supposed to hold them down doesn't seem to stay clamped,  but they are easy enough to use just holding them still.   I totally recommend these babies.   Pencil sharpener sanity!

Have a fabulous week!