Our biggest issue today was pencil sharpening.
Our school doesn't provide pencils or sharpeners and while it wasn't such an issue in the beginning of the year, it is quickly becoming one.
The hand held pencil sharpeners I bought for my kids lasted about a week before they were either stolen or broke. Guess the $0.99 store isn't good for everything after all.
I had a few that still worked and had been letting the kids use them until they started breaking the lead in the sharpener, at which point I became the official pencil sharpener.
Bad idea.
Today, on our first of 3 'practice test' dates when my students take last year's ELA test to show them how much the need to learn before they take this year's ELA test, the pencil issue erupted.
They all needed 2 pencils.
No one had more than 1.
The ones they had weren't sharpened.
That meant that I was sharpening 25 pencils with a hand held $0.99 pencil sharpener in the moments before they were to begin a test.
The problem only got worse throughout the day so tonight I decided my sanity was worth $20 and bought an electric pencil sharpener. They will be allowed to use it - 1 at a time - first thing in the morning and right after lunch.
This should save my sanity and my fingers!
Now...anyone feel like donating pencils?
3 comments:
Need pencils eh? Sure! Where would you like them sent?
;o)
Oy, electric pencil sharpeners!
My students like to stick their fingers in the pencil holes.
Reminding them how dangerous that is is a twice a day (at least) conversation.
I hate electric pencil sharpeners. Each year I spend a few bucks of my teacher's choice money on a few packs of the handhelds (preference: Stadtler).
They are mine, not theirs, but they can borrow them and return them. I usually lose 5 - 10 per year. The kids sort of get into borrowing them, passing them around, returning them.
The teacher I share a room with prefers electric, but out of deference to me, she tucked it in an almost hidden spot - she didn't need to since my classes like the borrowing game.
Jonathan
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