could it be the world's best pencil sharpener?

so this is not a treat tuesday post. sorry about that.

i've sort of been in a funk today, maybe because i'll be 35 for ... oh, just another 18 hours or so. boo.

to take my mind off my birthday i was doing a little school work today.

i'm sure there are teachers out there gasping, because school doesn't officially start for another 21 days.

but let me say that again. 21 days!!!

this little tidbit gives me something else to freak out about besides turning 36, which seems awfully close to 40, if you ask me.

so... i was conducting some research on pinterest and my favorite teaching blogs and i came across this...

this was not our first introduction.

once again i was filled with hope and excitement that maybe there is a pencil sharpener out there that really works.

you see, if you don't sharpen a lot of pencils, you probably won't understand or maybe you can't even imagine just how bad it is.

first of all, the classroom pencil sharpener, if you are lucky enough to have one... is TERRIBLE. students and teachers alike can stand there all day sharpening down to a nub and never getting a nice and pointy (or even useable) pencil. it's ridiculous. and it makes your fingers red and blistery if heaven forbid you have to sharpen more than one pencil.

i have avoided using the classroom pencil sharpener (when i had one!) for the 10 years i have been teaching by buying my own electric pencil sharpeners. these sweet gadgets can be pricey and loud and bulky and they burn up and decide not to work anymore and... my biggest pet peeve about them... they are hit or miss. when sharpening a brand new box of pencils i may not get even 50% sharpened without the lead breaking and falling out. for years i have thought it was because pencils are being cheaply made. but the above pencil sharpener promises that won't happen, stating it's the electric pencil sharpen that pulls to hard at the lead breaking it from within. well, that alone has me doing cartwheels, because it is extremely annoying to spend 30 minutes trying to sharpen a class set of pencils, only to have 7 that will actually be able to do their job.

and let's face it people, we sharpen A LOT of pencils in first grade. have you ever seen a first grader's pencil? most have black and brown smudgies from blacktop hands and then there are the bite marks and unidentified crusties along the wooden ridges. top all of that off with partially or entirely eaten erasers and metal rings. yes, first grade pencils are NASTY!

so why am i posting about my pencil sharpening woes and the health hazards of handling old first grade pencils?

i am hoping to win one of those sweet little machines of awesomeness in the photo above and by blogging about it, i get 5 entries. :)

you can enter to win one here.

and if you enter and win and don't want the pencil sharpener for yourself, i know of the perfect first grade classroom for it!

so... will you enter to win?