Classroom Friendly Supplies Pencil Sharpener

As a new teacher I am finding that I need all kinds of basic classroom supplies. One of these supplies is a good pencil sharpener. My room did come with a wall sharpener but it is falling off the wall and doesn't work well even when the screws were tightened. The pencils seem to dissolve in it and never truly sharpen. I knew I would be using a pencil sharpener every day in my classroom so I decided to buy a good one before I spent a fortune in pencils and while I have many, many years to enjoy it.

I originally wanted an electric sharpener but after doing a lot of research, I found that no matter what brand you buy or how much you pay, you are bound to buy another one in a few years. After searching for some time, I found a manual sharpener on Classroom Friendly Supplies. The reviews looked great so I thought I'd give it a try.

So today I am doing a review on my Classroom Friendly Supplies pencil sharpener.

This is the sharpener. I chose black so it would go with any style room that I choose over the years. There are also many colors to pick from. 

The front looks like this. the first time I used it, I squeezed the two black parts on top so the pencil would fit and tried sharpening it. I thought I just spent $25 on the most worthless pencil sharpener I had ever used. It barely sharpened. I WAS SOOOO WRONG!! After a little more experimenting, I found that when you squeeze these together, you also have to pull this piece out. 

Here is a picture of what that looks like. Then I began sharpening. As I spun the handle, the pencil comes in closer and the gap closes. 

This is the result! :) They look fantastic! The lead is very sharp and all of the pencils are the same size. I did 40 in my first test. The best part is, I did not use brand name pencils. These are on sale at Walgreens right now 20 for $0.99.

So far I'm very impressed. If you are looking for a better pencil sharpener, it is definitely worth the price even for a manual. 

Back To School Open House

Back to school is coming fast! Not sure where the summer went but I'm excited for the school year!!

Our open house is next week and students and parents will be coming in to meet us, see their new classrooms, and bring in their supplies. I created these station cards to help with the traffic of Open House Night. 

The background is from http://galleryhip.com/creative-borders-for-word-documents.html The font is Elephants in Cherry Trees. 

Click here to download them for yourself FREE!

Teacher Binder Freebies!!

I've been working on my teacher binder for a few days now. I got the layout from my cooperating teacher and recreated it a little for my own needs in a different district.

Click here to download free. 

I got the background from http://madeyoulookhair.com/?attachment_id=52. The font is HelloSimple.

Pages include 

Schedule- Here I put copies of our master, Monday and weekly schedule so I can refer to this when needed. 

Lesson Plans- I used excel to make my daily plans. I put Monday's schedule on its on pages since the times and order of our day is a little different. Feel free to use my template. (Make sure to open with Google Sheets.) Before each month, I plan to place a sheet protector with student's birthday certificates so they are handy. 

Classroom Information- This is where I put our class list, number order, line order, seating arrangement, addresses and phone numbers. I also keep birthdays here so I can look at the beginning of each week to make sure I don't forget anyone. 

In Case of an Emergency- Emergency plans for tornadoes, fire drills or lock downs. 

Health Information- Copies of allergies and medical diagnosis that may affect learning. 

Behavior- During student teaching we made a chart to track behavior. The students names are on one side and the days of the week are at the top. Each day is divided into two columns, one for the morning and one for the afternoon. We kept this sheet at the front of the room on a clipboard. Each time a child had a problem with behavior it was marked on the clipboard. The students don't know that you're recording this but the pages were kept over the quarter or semester and it was easier to see patterns in behavior and it is a super easy way to document problem behaviors. 

As always let me know what you think! Is there anything I'm missing that is a must-have for your teacher binder?