The Most Amazing Pencil Sharpener
Every since school started back I’ve been hearing about these “amazing” pencil sharpeners. A couple of teachers in my school purchased one and my initial reaction was “What’s so great about it? I’ve already got a great pencil sharpener.” I didn’t really try the sharpeners out and didn’t think much else about it. I own this electric pencil sharpener. I purchased it about 5 years ago at Staples and it wasn’t cheap. However, I was very impressed when I bought it. See, I am one of those mean teachers that do not let students sharpen their own pencils. I hate the noise, the mess, the kids out of their seat and in line all the time sharpening. I actually had my classroom pencil sharpener taken off the wall so the only sharpener I had was the electric one. I have a pencil cup system. One cup is for sharpened pencils and the other is for broken ones. Students trade in their broken one for a sharpened one and I never have to had to deal with it. My class last year understood this system well and I didn’t have many issues.
Enter this year’s class.
I had to put the pencil cups on my desk and not allow the students to trade pencils in/out. Why? Kids were spending too much time trading in their decently sharpened but worn down pencil for a new sharper one. They would stand by the shelf and just go through each pencil one at a time to find the “perfect” one when the pencil they had was still in good condition! I started making the students bring me their pencil when they needed a new one. This got annoying really quick. Every time we start some work and I turn on the document camera to get the students ready to follow along with me I have a line of kids telling me their pencil is broken!
I swear, the kids this year EAT pencils and ERASERS. I mean, we all have those few kids that chew off the eraser or break it off and chew the pencil and break it on purpose. 98% of my class this year does this! I have been going crazy because of pencils. I can give everyone a brand new pencil with an eraser for the top and by lunch…. half of the class is missing their pencil or it’s broken already (and we have lunch at 10:30!!)! Is there a pencil fairy that comes and takes pencils to mess with teachers’ minds?
I originally thought the broken pencil issue was due to students breaking them on purpose. Then I got to thinking about it. I thought maybe it was my pencils. I had a lot of Wal-Mart brand pencils that students brought in and out of a box of 24 usually about 7 or 8 would not sharpen. I would stick them in my pencil sharpener and pull it out to find the lead already broke off or it only sharpened the pencil on one side. Annoying. The kids were going through pencils so fast that when I got those several that wouldn’t sharpen it made it even harder on me.
Browsing the internet one night I came across the “amazing” pencil sharpener again. I decided that maybe it was time I explore the possibility that the pencils weren’t the problem but that maybe it was the sharpener itself. I decided to try out one of these magical pencil sharpeners. I contacted Troy at Classroom Friendly Supplies and he agreed to send me one to review. I was so excited! So excited that I told the students I hoped we were going to have our pencil woes come to an end.
Here is the beauty that came in the mail:
This pencil sharpener is really easy to use! As soon as I got it in the mail, I grabbed a box of pencils and tried it out. It is so simple! I had already watched the video on Troy’s website about how to use the sharpener so I set to work. In no time I had sharpened 12 pencils. My husband came home from work and found me happily sharpening pencils. Yes, it truly was enjoyable to sharpen the pencils! Who know?!
I decided to integrate the pencil sharpener into my writing lesson. We have been reading a lot of “How-To” books and writing our own How-To pieces. When I took the pencil sharpener to school the next day, I showed the students exactly how the pencil sharpener works. I also showed them the YouTube video. We then wrote a “How To Sharpen a Pencil” as a class. I had the students model how to use it and explain to me how to use it. These are the steps we came up with:
How to Sharpen a Pencil
By: Mrs. Magee’s ClassSupplies Needed: a pencil, the amazing quietest pencil sharpener, your hand!
1. Get a pencil.
2. Pull out the silver part until it clicks into place.
3. Squeeze the black lever.
4. Insert the pencil into both holes.
5. Turn the handle to sharpen the pencil until it slows down and the silver part stops moving.
6. Squeeze the black lever again.
7. Remove the perfectly sharpened pencil.
8. Have an amazing writing experience!
Look at these beauties!!!
I challenged the students. I told them we were doing an experiment to see how long our pencils would last without breaking. I gave them a brand new sharpened pencil on Monday of this week. Tomorrow is Friday and I have not had ANY student tell me their pencil is broken. NO ONE has asked me for another pencil. It is a MIRACLE! Such a miracle that I return the pencil cups to the shelf and got the off my desk. Seriously, this is a big deal. Before this amazing pencil sharpener kids were bombarding me all the time with pencil problems.
If you do not have this pencil sharpener YOU. HAVE. TO. GET. ONE. It really is awesome! It comes in four great colors and includes a clamp so you can attach it to a table or counter. Go to Classroom Friendly Supplies and pick one up for yourself. You won’t be sorry!!
Now if I could just solve the issue of the kids “eating” the pencils….
Guess what! Troy is allowing me to give away one of these fabulous pencil sharpeners to one lucky reader out there! Are you having pencil woes of your own? Enter to win your own amazing pencil sharpener! Entries will be accepted until midnight, February 15th. The winner will be announced on Saturday, February 16th. Good luck!
I just love mine!! I Have a handful trained to do it when they first come in in the morning- man it makes my life easier!!!
Squirrels
Going Nutty!
misssquirrels@yahoo.com
Kids have to have at least 2 sharpened penciks each morning. If one breaks they have a back up.
😛 I really need this for my classroom. I just tried to place a sharpener on my purchase order for next year & this company wanted $100.00 for a sharpener. As you can tell there is no way I have $100 for a sharpener so I really hope I win! 🙂
As of right now, I do the sharpened cup/unsharpened cup as well as “Sharpy time” 2 times a day. “Sharpy time” is when they can come up with 2 pencils to get them extra pointy! 🙂
I have two baskets. One for pencils that need to be sharpened and one with sharpened pencils. I sharpen the pencils as needed throughout the week, usually twice s week in the mornings. They are to suppose to have two pencils in their desks ready to go, just in case one breaks.
My kids have a pencil pouch with 5 pencils. They get sharpened once every two weeks. If at the end of the time if they have ALL 5 pencils, they get a surprise in their pouch when I return them Monday morning.
I feel ike this post is exactly my situation this year. I really need an efficient pencil sharpener. Both of mine broke this week.
Please. 🙂
Thanks.
I have a sharpened and unsharpened pencil container. My students also have two pencils in their own individual pencil boxes in their desks…..and I have the oldest pencil sharpener ever, its nailed down near my windowsill, very inconvenient!!
Oh my gosh!! do i ever NEED this pencil sharpener!!! we are having to exact same problems. i think my students want the tiniest pencils ever! we just got a new pencil sharpener and i made the mistake of one day telling one student to go sharpen the pencil and now its spread to everyone in the room, almost like a wildfire.
I have a cart from IKEA with pencils and pens the kids can take from. Because I teach in high school I don’t have too many takers each day. The school provides the pencils.
Cute blog!
I gave up on electric pencil sharpeners…I now use the “old timey” manual one. I would love to try one of these, though.
I definitely have to try one of these!! Broken pencils are my biggest pet peeves!!
I had the exact same problem! They were using my pencils left and right and I couldn’t figure out why they needed to borrow mine so often. It was that horrible no-good extra awful electric pencil sharpener. One of my grade level teachers gave me a blue one of these beauties! Now the students have to pay to borrow my pencils cause they should have no excuse but to have both of their pencils perfectly sharpened in the morning!
I have two cute wooden holders painted to look like a dull and a sharp pencil. The sharp with a triangular point and the dull is flat across the “lead”. I would love this pencil sharpener to make it easier to keep that sharpened pencil holder stocked!!
Melanie
MelanieMorgan.EdD@gmail.com
We have a cup of sharpened pencils sitting out. The children are not allowed to sharpen (too much of a distraction).
Thank you for having this give-away!
🙂
I try to do the same with the pencil cans. I have had the same kind of problems with year with my class. It is so frustrating.
We’ve always used the dull/sharp pencil containers. This sharpener would be great! dbednarsk@yahoo.com
We keep them in a can on the desk and students exchange them in the morning
Really would love to win one of these.
I’ve been saying I need to get one of these. I’m one of those mean teachers too!
First of all! I love this blog post! My classroom is filled with soo many unsharpened pencils and the ones we do have sharpened, constantly break. I would love to win this pencil sharpener. I have heard such great things about it! 😮
I sharpen ALL the pencils in my room and return them to my kids in their pencil box.
I have been dieing to try one of these since I saw them on a different blog a while back!! The Firehouse Red ones are adorable and I would LOVE to have one! 🙂
With my pencil sharpener breaking last week, this would be awesome! I’ve been relying on my friends’ sharpeners across the hall, and luckily they are super helpful! I have the cups to trade in pencils through the day, and then it’s a student’s responsibility to sharpen them at the end of the day.
I believe strongly in using the “sharpened” and “broken” jars like you have!! I’ll be student teaching in the Fall, but I already know I’m a “mean teacher”, too. 😉
My students are eating their pencils too. I need help! I have even super glued their erasers on and they manage to take those off too.
I have one, but could really use another. I use the same trading system that you do. I also have those who eat the metal parts. I scared my kids by telling them how chewing on this could really cut their mouth and how painful that would be. Then I put some masking tape on the ends to prevent anyone from getting cut by these sharp ends.
Patty
🙂 I’ve got my fingers crossed! My class this year is going through the pencils like no others!
I have the same electric pencil sharpener. I got it in August and it broke last week! I had been having one student from each table sharpen their pencils, but now all the kids have to use the crummy wall-mounted one. I’m trying to come up with a better system and that requires a better sharpener, so I’d love to win this!
I really want one of these. I am seriously considering using my PTO money in the fall to get one if I can’t win one!
I want this pencil sharpener so badly! I have showed the video from their web site to my students and they have all offered to bring in $1.00 to help me buy it, LOL.
Oh, and I allow students to sharpen twice a day–before school and right after recess.
We grind and grind away…..while the pencils break over & over!
wendy 1stgradefireworks@gmail.com
I handle the pencil sharpening. I keep baskets of pencils in various places in the room, and they have one in their individual pencil pouches. Our sharpener died this week, so I would LOVE to win this one!
Thanks for the giveaway! Would love to win this sharpener!
Would love to win this. We use an electric sharpener. You’re right about the cheap pencils… I only have about a 50% success rate with those. Would love to see if this sharpener makes the difference.
😥 Sadly, I have been losing the pencil wars on a daily basis. I would LOVE to win one of these!!!
We go through lots of pencils and my electric is starting to weaken. Time for a new one!
I would love to try one of these. I think we get more pencils that won’t sharpen than ones that will…
I would love love love one of these! The pencil monster lives in my classroom this year too!
I have a bin for sharp pencils and one for dull. I have three students who have the job of sharpening the dull pencils when they have free time.
My students also trade in their pencils for no reason at all – so frustrating! I am also looking for a pencil sharpener that sharpens colored pencils. Would this work for that?
Oops, I think I put the wrong email in the first time…
I ditto your mention of the number of pencils….and erasers that first graders go through. My students are also exchanging perfectfully good pencils for a “new” one. And this year…they are leaving the “unsharpened pencils on the floor”. It looks like a battleground of pencils. I am amazed!!! Needing a new sharpener…yesterday! Thanks for the chance to win.
I homeschool and sharpen pencils in the evenings myself 😀
I actually have the exact same problem you had before you got the new sharpener! I am sick of sharpening pencils, having kids lose them and eat them, and everything else. I would love to win this giveaway!
Becky
Compassionate Teacher
I would LOVE one!! it looks so nice! 😛
I follow the same system as you and I also require them to have 2 sharpened pencils at the beginning of the day and right after lunch.
I have my aide sharpen pencils for us. Too many kids have “killed” my expensive sharpener by trying to sharpen the eraser, metal end of a pencil or a crayon. I would love to try one of these amazing sharpeners out!
We throw all of our broken one in a drawer and when our supply of good pencils gets low, we resharpen the old ones.
We have pencils on their tables but if it is need in repair it goes to the repair can. An adult sharpens the pencils because it is so noisy!
I just got one too! Love it so much that we now have less pencil problems! Would love another for my home/office! 🙂
I have seen these sharpeners and wondered how they worked! Thanks for this blog post!! I HATE my current sharpener… May have to look into this one for next year!
I also don’t allow students to sharpen pencils during the day- I can’t stand the noise! That’s why I’m so excited about this sharpener!
I sharpen pencils first things when students come in, for later in the day they have to switch out a dull one with a sharpened one from a bin on my desk.
I won a great electric pencil sharpener at the beginning of the year. I let my homeroom class sharpen each morning. If any other student needs to sharpen, I do it for them. It is tooooo expensive to replace if they mess it up.
This year I decided to have the students be responsible for their own pencils.They start with three sharpened pencils in the morning, and if all three break they ask a friend to borrow one. I love this system…the only thing that would make it better is a fantastic pencil sharpener!
I really need this pencil sharpener! Pencil sharpening is a big problem in my classroom. My manual pencil sharpener eats the pencils.
I use two cups and try to sharpen them once or twice a week.
Kids do not sharpen in my room. The one day I had a sub, I found tons of little short pencils which confirmed what I thought would happen. 🙄
I am a reading specialist and work with small groups. I sharpen my pencils about once a day.
I sharpened the bulk of the pencils in the morning. For emergencies and if there are no pencils in the jar, they use the big bulky blue sharpener but they do not like that one because it eats the pencils. Love this pencil sharpener!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I handle pencils by having a “Sharpen Please” box and a “Ready to Write” box (stole from Pinterest). Students put a pencil they need sharpened in and take a sharpened one out. I also had the old, wall-mounted pencil sharpener removed from my room. I hated that loud thing. Started the year with a nice, electric sharpener bought by the school, from my budget, but that lasted until about October. So, my students now have to use the little handheld ones that stay behind my desk and they have to ask permission. They hate using these little sharpeners, so most of the time, come prepared for class.
I LOVE these sharpeners. One is not enough!!
🙂
I really want this sharpener. My kids constantly break every one we get in our classroom. Kids should have their own sharpeners in their desk…but they don’t. They are to sharpen 2 pencils at the beginning of school. Want to try this one!
I work with special needs students, learning independence and working on essential fine motor skills are both important. Therefore, my students are in charge of sharpening their own pencils. This sounds like the perfect sharpener to help my students! Thank you for offering!
My situation is pretty lame right now. MIsmatched, ugly containers and a broken electric sharpener. It is 10 years old so I’m not surprised. The kids now use hand held ones that I keep at my table and always ask to have back. The kids are handling it pretty well considering they’re getting up constantly to sharpen. Next stop for me: pinterest for some pretty labels!
I tried the two cup system and no pencils were turned in to get sharpened, only the sharp ones were taken. Now I just have students ask me for pencils and I only give them out if they do not have one. I’ve had issues w/ poor sharpening (pencil leads that break before the sharpening is done and pencils that only sharpen one side) – so I had the sharpener replaced. It worked fine for a couple of months, but is up to the old tricks again. I would LOVE a sharpener that actually works!!
I have two cups: sharpened and not sharpened. The kids come up and get a pencil as needed as well as lots of reminders before we begin a lessson!
I love these pencil sharpeners and so do my kiddos. I would love to have another one so that I can share it with another teacher and hopefully get more of these wonderful sharpeners in classrooms.
I love how you turned the new pencil sharpener into a writing assignment! What a good idea!
I would love to win one!
I use the cups too. My pet peeve is that my kids break off the pencil tips on purpose so that they can keep a little collection of tips in their desks! I don’t know why they want them!
I love my mine so much I would love to win one for my coworker. I have sharp and dull buckets they can go and trade their pencils when they need to or they will ask me about it all day! If you solve the problem about the eating of pencils please let me know. 🙂 aaparsons@hotmail.com
Thank you! Andrea
I let my kids use the dying electric sharpener. I die every time I listen to it! AUGH!
We used to put our pencils in a dull bucket but that was getting old FAST. So, we switched to they had to give us a quarter… man oh man that stopped the purposeful breaking of pencils! Thanks for the giveaway!
Sara
Miss V’s Busy Bees
ventrellasara@gmail.com
I definitely need this- my kids burn through pencil sharpeners like no one’s business. It’s incredible how destructive 28 5th graders can be!
I have a broken basket and sharp basket. When their pencil breaks they come get a new one – I sharpen first thing in the morning and thats it. There are enough in the basket for the day.
I would love to have this pencil sharpener (in UK blue, of course!)!
Oh, and you are such a “supa star” Mrs. Magee!!!
Why thank you Mrs. Durbs! Good luck on winning! 🙂
😎 I have been going through this EXACT same problem in my room this year! I swear I spend HOURS each week trying to stay on top of pencil sharpening (between the regular and colored pencils) I have always had an AWESOME sharpener. I think it has finally met its match with this group of firsties! I have heard about this sharpener too and would LOVE to try something new- especially if it works as well as your pictures (and commentary) shows! Thanks for doing this ! Happy LONG weekend!
I have an electric pencil sharpener that the kiddos use.
I have the sharpened and unsharpened pencil buckets. Kids are not allowed to sharpen during the day.