Sunday, July 7, 2013

Pencil Sharpener Review & Sunday Smorgasbord

Now I don't know about you, but I go through 1, sometimes 2 electric  sharpeners each year. It doesn't matter which brand I buy, or how much money I spend, my students ALWAYS break it somehow.
The last electric sharpener I bought, has only lasted because I am the only one who sharpens pencils. I can't allow the students to use it. Without my sharpener I'm a gonner. So unfortunately, I can't let them near it! I even put an OUT OF ORDER sign on it when I have a sub (just in case!!) I'm really hoping this sharpener will change all that.

I recently had a giveaway and one of the prizes was The Quietest Classroom Sharpener.
Troy from Classroom Friendly supplies was so gracious in this giveaway.
As I read his website, I saw that I could review his sharpener on my blog.
I received it on Friday and we immediately got to sharpening. I had my kids help me as I don't have any students to test it out! (summer time)
front

back

Shavings cup

Inside
My Official testers are 7 and 9 so the perfect age of children who will be using this sharpener.
I started with the half sharpened lot, leftover in their school-boxes and in my junk drawer! You know the ones that barely have a point left! Well, after a little coaching, my kids were able to sharpen not problem. The sharpener clamps to most surfaces. I was using my kitchen counter (so pardon the crafty mess) 

There is a little maneuvering involved at first. First you must squeeze the black levers together. This enables the silver face plate to slide out. It also allows you to put your pencil in.


There are teeth within the hole to clamp the pencil in place. This clamps function in two-fold. First it holds the pencil in place while sharpening (no spinning like in an electric sharpener) and it allows for different size pencils. I took some short video of them trying it out.

Watch video here of sharpener in action

My son's reaction is priceless

My son using the sharpener

Results, My daughter's quote was--"This thing is awesome!" When I asked the follow-up question "Why?" Her answer was "Do you see how sharp these pencils are?!" The pictures really speak for themselves.


Most of these were sharpened by my kids--no complaining!!! Don't ask me why, but they like using it! But I guess that is the point isnt' it! (no pun intended lol!)

So What do you think?  I think it's absolutely worth it!!! I am planning on getting another sharpener--1 for school and 1 for home.  Because as you know, we teachers always have pencils laying around that need to be sharpened.  Now head on over and link up with your Sunday Smorgasbord!!

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Fabulous in First Linky


5 comments:

  1. I hate pencil sharpeners! I really do get tired of looking for that "just right" sharpener. Like you, I stopped letting the kids use it. When I originally stopped, I designated a kid to be the pencil sharpener at the end of the day. A couple of years ago, I just had them bring me their pencils at the end of the day. I would sharpen while they grabbed their backpacks. It was a big waste of time, but I was tired of buying sharpeners. Maybe I'll look into this one...

    Carrie
    First Grade with Ms. Dawley

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I totally know what you mean it felt like sharpening pencils was my 2nd jib!

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  2. Love mine. I bought 3 last year - the blades lasted all year. I do better when they are not fastened to a table. Since the kids don't have to hold the pencil, it frees their hands to hold the sharpener. My only casualty was one sharpeners "hands" (the pencil holder pieces) quit pulling the pencils in. I think the kids were playing with that piece. It only happened on one sharpener. I bought some replacement blades for the 2 remaining sharpeners and bought 3 more this year. Now I have 5 on hand. I am thinking about assigning one to each of my groups. These are definitely worth buying. They are by far the best sharpeners I have ever had!!!!

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  3. Thanks for the great tips! Broken pencils are a huge pet peeve of mine. I too only use my electric sharpener and go through about 2-3 each year. I also find that the "fancy" pencils are the worst. They only sharpen on one side. At my school we found that the best pencils are the Ticonderoga ones. Once you have the correct pencils you're in business.

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  4. in 18 years of teaching I have been through as many electric and wall sharpeners. They just don't work or last. I talked our staff into getting these and our pta is buying them for us. We will start the year with these pencil sharpeners in every classroom!

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I love hearing from you!!!!Thanks for telling your tale....

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