Happy Wednesday!

Hope you’re week is off to a great start!  Classroom Friendly Supplies contacted us a few weeks ago and asked us if we’d give an honest review of their pencil sharpener.  Having a decent pencil sharpener is very IMPORTANT to us and we were more than happy to try them out.  

They sent us one in purple, their newest color.

How cute is this?

The pencil sharpener comes with a screw type clamp to secure it to a table. 

I just LOVE it!  This pencil sharpener sharpens pencils perfectly!  I am even able to sharpen my Handwriting Without Tears pencils and they’re pretty short. 

You simply squeeze the two black knobs and gently pull the pencil holding compartment out.

It will stay out until you squeeze the tabs again.  Next, you’ll want to squeeze the tabs again and insert your pencil.  Once the pencil is inserted you can release the tab and start sharpening

As you are sharpening, you’ll see the pencil slowly moving into the sharpener.  You’ll know it’s completely sharpened when you hear a quieter sound.  The handle will also turn faster when the pencil is fully sharpened. 

And what’s great is that my students can easily use this sharpener and they know when the pencil is sharpened rather than sharpening the pencil is down to nothing.  My classroom helper is the pencil sharpener for the day.  After checking in with me, he/she goes right to the dull can and sharpens five pencils.  My first graders LOVE it and can easily sharpen independently.

In Kinder, Erin also uses this fabulous pencil sharpener. Even her sweet kinders are able to independently sharpen their pencils, without breaking and wasting their precious lead. In kinder it's incredibly helpful being able to have the sharpener stable at one spot in the room, yet also easy to move to a different location. We move around our classroom a lot, and until we get another one in the room, it has to go back and forth between the front of the class and the back. Since Erin is new to kinder this year, she has quite the wish list, so she'll have to wait to purchase another. But we have to tell you, this company is the best to work with! Such great customer service and such a great product!

If you’d like to check these out, you can stop by here:

Classroom Friendly Supplies

They also sell replacement blades and a permanent sharpener mount!

And here’s a little freebie I wanted to share!  A few weeks ago we were learning about frogs and their life cycle in my first grade classroom (I tie my weekly themes with my Treasures Reading themes) I created cards with pictures and text to retell the life cycle of a frog.  We recreated a life cycle circle on the floor in our large group area. 

          

                                                     

These cards also work great in a pocket chart with or without the arrows.  I have these placed in our pocket chart station and these are one of the resources my first graders can use when they’re at the pocket station during literacy stations.    

If you’d like this little freebie, you can go {HERE} or click the picture below!

Have a great rest of your week!