S is for Super Sharpener

Once upon a time I had a pre-intern. If you asked her the hardest part of being a student teacher that year, she would have said something about keeping pencils sharpened. Seriously. It wouldn't have been the kid who threw chairs or made her go home crying.

It was pencils. The sound of the pencil sharpener drove her crazy. The times a pencil broke and a student got up in the middle of their work to replace it made her insane. Let's not even talk about what happened with the curlies the kids peeled off the fancy pencils I gave them for special occasions.  It was "The Great Pencil Problem of 2008".

I feel like I should track her down and giving her this pencil sharpener. It was created by a classroom teacher, so he knows how big of a problem pencils can be.

 It would change her life.

The morning I brought mine to school, I made my teammates sharpen pencils. I even inturrupted the first grade teachers' team meeting with a commercial demonstration. They were highly impressed, too.

This is a pencil sharpened with my electric sharpener. The one that you have to hold the shavings cup closed or it won't even work.

The lead is already about to fall out and that curly plastic around it just begs children to peel it instead of actually writing.

Enter the best pencil sharpener in the world to save the day.

Viola! Perfectly sharpened pencils with NO curlies and that lead isn't going anywhere but dull from all of the writing we'll get done.

Here is a side by side comparison. My electric sharpener should be ashamed of itself.

I sharped a whole pack of pencils yesterday morning and held them up for a student to admire with me. She said, "Now those are some really sharp pencils. We could do some serious writing with those things. Or poking."

Not convinced you need this sharpener yet? Watch this video and then head over to Classroom Friendly Supplies and check it out. I'm loving my green one and I'm wanting the car one. So cool!



 
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P is for Pencil Shoes

Wow! You guys are so sweet! There were a lot of requests in the comments, here and on facebook, for me to explain how I made the pencil shoes.

I saw this pair on ModCloth (pinterest find!) and wanted them BAD! Then I saw the price and I wanted to win the lottery BAD!

Found on ModCloth for more than I would ever spend...

So me being cheap... I found a pair of "old lady shoes" (no offense meant to anyone offended) at a thrift store. These were gold and very clean inside. Score!  I liked that these went halfway up my foot.  I thought black would work best, but that would have been hard to paint over.

I cannot believe this picture was still on my iPhone!

 You can see the materials I used: sponge brushes, electrical tape, paint (black, yellow, pink, silver, off white) *Cantankerous cat optional.

I simply taped off the sections I wanted by wrapping the tape completely around the shoe. I painted the toes black and the back heels pink and let dry. It's not in the picture but then I painted the yellow next. I removed the black tape on the toes and painted that section off white. The strip of tape on the back ended up being the perfect width for the silver.

They did need several coats and I strongly recommend a coat of Mod Podge or other clear varnish.

They were really easy to make and will definitely make a statement when I wear them. =) Maybe a little Ms. Frizzle-ish?

I think they needed the No. 2 to look complete.

All this talk about pencils made me remember this post. I think I'm ready to get a new crop of darlings already. They are the reason I can wear pencil shoes.

Happy Tuesday everyone!


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P in for penCil

So the other day, I accidentally made a typo on my facebook status. I got a lot of comments on it.

The funny thing that none of you knew... "pencil" was one of our Challenge Spelling Words this week. It has a short e.

Thankfully, I've written it correctly everywhere my students can read it.

Here are some alternate spellings of the word "pencil". I'm sure you will notice that NONE of them were spelled MY way.

pencle, peincl, pintsol (my favorite)

pensol, pennsly (say what!?)

pencill, pensl, pecil

Cutest work to date:

P is for Popular Purple Pencil Sharpener

I was one of the lucky teacher bloggers to get to try the quietest classroom pencil sharpener. What made it even better is that now it comes in PURPLE!

Look how well it matches my new carpet!

And it coordinates with our 7 Habits of Happy Kids resources.

And it's just so darn pretty clamped to the table.

I love,  love, love how quiet it is. And that it doesn't chew up my pencils and leave us with little nubs has me sold for life.

Want your own pretty purple sharpener that makes perfect pencil points AND can be used during quiet time? Head over to Classroom Friendly Supplies and get yours today!

Check out this video before you go. 



Happy sharpening!

 

C is for Currently in January

I'm linking up to Oh' Boy Fourth Grade. She's doing a giveaway and an AWESOME pencil sharpener is the prize.

S is for Spelling

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{WARNING! ADULT WORDS AHEAD!}

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Inventive and phonetic spelling crack me up!

A couple of years ago, I did a post on the various spellings my class used for 'pencil'.

This is another post about spelling. It just never gets old.

You know how pesky those b's and d's can be, right? 

Hmmm...

I guess he's got /ch/ down.

I'm just glad I didn't have table partners trade and grade. Ms. Precocious would have SURELY found that one.

Enjoy reading this one. I'm a little confused about the activities happening here myself.

In addition to yesterday's 'multiplucate', we now have the word 'rectagon'.

I think we are going to have to make a "Not Real Words" word wall in my class. And keep working on those b's and d's.

I hope you had a terrific Tuesday!

R is for Rainy (Day) Ramblings

1. I went to school this morning. I finished my teacher toolbox using the idea that I shamelessly copied borrowed from Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files. I adore her stuff. And I love that she loves ladybugs like me.

I did not spray paint mine because of her horror story.

2. I came home because there were some scary clouds in the sky. Also because it was 4:15...

3. I went to Walmart (I hate Walmart!) because the refurb color ink I got off ebay didn't work (see August Currently B2S must have #2). I was so mad! The black one worked fine. I sent them a semi-scathing email asking them to "advise on how to fix the problem" and they told me to clean the cartridge with rubbing alcohol. It works now. I am happy. I can return the expensive one to Walmart (I hate Walmart!).

4. The sky opened up and there is some wicked lightning. The dogs are under the bed.

5. I figured that since I was so productive in my classroom today, I'd tackle my mountain of crafty scariness in my utility room.  I am periodically rewarding myself with facebook/blogging/chocolate breaks. This accidentally happened.

Love me some Ikea Hazelnut chocolate with a name I cannot pronounce.

6. I found my pencil shoes I started last summer. They need a coat of ModPodge still...

7. I also had to add some cards to my box of greeting cards I keep. My house burned down when I was 12 and one of the things I miss the most is my box of birthday/holiday cards I had kept since I was in elementary school. I dug to the bottom of my current box just for kicks and found one from my aunt on my 18th birthday (wowzers!) and one from two very good teaching friends on my birthday (during summer school). Great memories.

8. I am making homemade mac-n-cheese for dinner.

9. In case you haven't been anxiously waiting and didn't already know...a lot of sellers on Teachers Pay Teachers will be having a sale on August 12-13. I am putting everything in my store at 20%. With the TPT promo code, you'll have a total of 28% off. Time to clean out those wishlists!

10. I love my laminator.

Okay! Enough of a bloggy break for me. Back to #5. I need more chocolate.

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T is for Testing and Treats

Second graders took the Stanford Achievement test today. Boy were they stressed.

They wanted to know if it was as hard as the FCAT.

They wanted to know if they had to stay in the second grade if they didn't pass it.

They wanted to to know if they can skip third grade if they got a "9" score.

To reduce the stress, we gave them The Polka Dotted Teacher's Smarties treats. They LOVED the 7 reminders.

Some of them took it quite literally and told their parents they had to go to sleep at 7 p.m.

When they came in this morning, they found a pencil from the Test Fairy. (Again from Polka Dotted Teacher.)

We also gave them a tootsie roll treat as one last reminder to do their best. (Adapted from Polka Dotted Teacher. We loved your stuff Jessica!)

The darlings were supposed to "start their day peacefully" so we didn't do our normal Morning Work. I've been letting a student write up our morning jobs and this was today's:

I'm positive "walk around" has never been an option before, so I don't know where that came from.

Stella brought us a reminder she had made.

M&Ms had a friend bring me a note:

I called M&Ms over and gave her a big bear hug. I told her she would be PERFECTLY fine and to do her best. Her teary eyes made my eyes teary. (Soapbox: Why are we doing this to our children?!)

She went back to her desk and held this up:

After the test, she had a huge smile and said, "That was way better than I thought. It was kinda easy." (Whew!)

Testing week just proves to me that I would be a crazy mess of nerves if I were a third grade teacher and the students' scores could mean a mandatory retention. (Go Florida!...not)

I told my darlings that the hardest part of second grade is over. They were very relieved.

************************************MOVING ON ********************************************

My Pinterest Exchange gift came so I got a treat, too!




It was from Tania at My Second Sense!




It is so cute I actually squealed a little when I was opening it all. Here is what she sent me:

Note cards AND the adorable stamp

A personalized notebook AND a RED sharpie!

A super cute post-it holder. I adore it!

Did that lady do her research on me or what?!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Tania! I love it all.

I hope she likes what I sent her a smidgen as much as I mine (especially because it's late).


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T is for Teary Tuesday

As I've said before, it's usually either a Terrible Tuesday or a Terrific Tuesday...but it's rare I have a Teary Tuesday!

Stella was absent when I took attendance this morning. That isn't what made me teary.

She showed up at 10:00 with a tardy slip. That's not what made me teary either.

 I didn't blog about it because I was really upset about it on Friday, but Stella really hurt my feelings. She said something very unkind to me and I told her that I need some time to feel warm and fuzzy about her again. I told her that I still love her, but I really don't like the choices she makes and the words she lets out of her mouth. She told me she has no feelings.

So yeah, I was a little raw over Stella.

She showed up at 10:00 with her dirty hair and the same outfit she probably wore the whole weekend and I just instantly forgave her. She had her trademark Stella look on her face and handed me a pink pencil pouch. Inside was this:

It contained: 2 pictures with lots and lots of glued on stars, a little poem book, a bag full of jewels, warm fuzzies, dragon tattoos, and a stick of gum.

This picture looks exactly like me.

She then said the most important part was the letter. It was in an envelope with my favorite thing on it. Oh, and I could take off the ladybug and "put it wherever I want like my bathroom mirror or my car window."

Inside was this:

For those of you who don't read "7 year old", this is what it says:
Dear Ms. Buckler,
Me and myself are giving you a little present. I know I can be a little mean but sometimes I am nice. But I am not a cold prickly right now. I am being a warm fuzzy!!!

P.S. I love you.
Love, Stella

Cue the tears! Tears and a bear hug to Stella! I said, "Stella, I really do love you. Especially when you are being a warm fuzzy, but even when you forget."

She said, "I will try to get better."

Oh Stella! How you make this crazy, crazy job worth it!

 Have a Wonderful Wednesday everyone!