BEST Pencil Sharpener E-VAH!

LOVE!  I am in LOVE!!!  It's a taboo relationship.  Because frankly...it's with my new pencil sharpener!

It's wrong to love a pencil sharpener this much, but I don't care!

We have had a ROTTEN year as far as pencil sharpening goes.

Here's the RECAP from our last post if you missed it!  

(Be sure and check the post out for more "reflections from the year")

Holy smokes...who would think that sharpening pencils could drive someone to drink???? Ok so maybe not drink, but pretty darn close! We started out the year with 2 cans labeled "SHARP" and "NEEDS SHARPENING". Great plan! Worked really well except the kiddos are big fans of their pencils. They have some sort of connection to those little wooden writing thing-a-ma-bobs. And when they returned to the "SHARP" can to pick up their pencils...well let's just say that didn't always go so well. As in---you're 5! Let's be honest, are you gonna always find YOUR pencil in the can or the sparkly star pencil or the one with the WHOLE eraser still in tact! People!! We had some serious issues with not getting the right pencil back. We thought about writing their names on their pencils with a sharpie, but that just sounded like too much work on our part!

So we had sweet George the maintenance guy come install a brand new kickin' it old school crank pencil sharpener so they could go back to sharpening their own pencils. Of course THIS would be a success because surely those pencil sharpeners have come a long way and are just sharpening like butta....right! Maybe we should have know there was trouble when sweet George installed the sharpener on backwards!!! When he left the first kid went to christen  the thing and HELLO!!!...crazy town! He did come back and install it correctly, but the story only goes down hill from there!  

So...here's the whole entire sad story.  The #1 pencil sharpening RULE!  You may ONLY sharpen pencils between the hours of 7:30 am and 8:00 am!  NO SHARPENING during the day because ALL that noise makes us want to pull our hair out!

Good rule.  Easy to follow, right?  Not so much!  At least not for 2 of our cutie pies...let's call them Spunky and Sassy (to protect the names of the innocent guilty!)  These 2 cuties managed to make their way to that darn sharpener nearly 100 10 times a day!  And always right when I was giving directions or the principal came in to talk to the kids or myself.  Rrrrrr!  Rrrrr!  Ckkkk! (Those are the horrendous sounds coming from the sharpener if you don't speak the language!)

In their defense, those darn cheap pencils from the warehouse were a pain to sharpen.  The lead kept constantly falling out every time it was sharpened!  The pencil sharpener kept chewing those pencils up like a beaver would a log!  The pencils were like 2 inches short by the time the sharpener worked and the lead stayed in!

Needless to say...I was SAD!  So...so...sad!

But NO MORE my friends...no more!

Insert heavenly angel music, rainbows, puppies, kittens, and any other happy image here!
Because THIS is what we are going to do to make it 

ALL BETTER!

Troy, over at Classroom Friendly Supplies, is a teacher and owner of this great product!   I think I have a crush!  I let Troy know of our pencil sharpening woes and he sent us a sharpener to try out!  And oh my goodness...I am in LOVE!  

So here's our official review!

It was shipped to my house so I haven't clamped it down like I will in my classroom.  I used it just holding it with my hand which worked just fine, but the clamp will help my littles be able to control it much better.  

PROS:

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Look at these babies!  They are beautiful!  These things sharpened like buttah!  EVERY single pencil I stuck in this thing came out EXACTLY like these!  Perfect points every time.  I swear my littles will be gah-gah over this!

Also, it was really very easy to use.  I'll admit I watched a quick little video from his website to save me time figuring out how to work it!  So simple to use!

The price is TOTALLY worth it and he gives BIG discounts if you order in bulk.  Our PTA is planning on purchasing one for EVERY classroom.  (Did I mention we LOVE our PTA????)

It was pretty darn quiet too!  I think I wouldn't even mind if the kiddos sharpened pencils between the hours of 7:30 am AND 2:30 pm with this baby installed!

CONS:

It's not ABSOLUTELY quiet.  Like... there is some noise coming out of this thing, but who cares when you get points like that...the FIRST time you sharpen!  Which means even if there is some noise...it only lasts a brief few seconds and the kiddo is DONE!  Not like before...sharpen, lead breaks, teacher cries...REPEAT 4,000 times!  WAHHH!!

FINAL WORDS

So if you don't have one of these babies, we HIGHLY recommend getting one to save your sanity!  We even think this beats our electric sharpener on quietness, sharpness, and... people...did I mention that my sharpener is PINK!  LOVE!