The Quietest Classroom Pencil Sharpener

I know I said I was putting Thursday raves on hold for the summer; however, this is a really good rave/review. Maybe some of you have heard of it.....

The Quietest Classroom Pencil Sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies

Here it is in all it's glory!!!

Before....... a nice dull pencil.

After....... a super sharp pencil. I love sharp pencils.

I'm not kidding it's amazing how sharp this pencil got.

I took my fancy-shmancy pencil sharpener to my summer camp so we could make pencil sharpening a little easier. This sharpener is so great because not only is it quiet and makes the point super sharp, but it's portable. You can attach this sharpener to just about any surface with a little vice that's included. 

Now let's talk about all the great things with this sharpener.

1.) It is so quiet........when comparison to other crank sharpeners & really any electric sharpener I've had. Who remembers the old fashion crank sharpeners that were (and maybe still are in some of you classrooms) attached to the wall? Remember how noisy they were? You could barely hear yourself think if someone had to sharpen their pencil. With this sharpener, that annoying sound is minimized not just because the rotating of the blades is much quieter but it's also super fast, so you don't have to sharpen as long.

2.) This sharpener sharpens pencils crazy fast. I'm not kidding when I say a couple of turns & your pencil is deadly sharp.

3.) Your pencil point will be so sharp with this sharpener that I think there's actually a learning curve to writing with the pencil afterwards. My camp kids kept breaking their points after I would sharpen their pencils with this sharpener because they weren't use to such a big, sharp point. By now they have adjusted to having such an awesome point, but they have adjusted so well that they are "pencil point snobs." What is that you may ask? It is when their point is the slightest bit dull they are telling me that they need their pencil sharpened. Then when I look at it it's not even that dull, it's still sharp like if you had used any other sharpener.

I'm so in love with this sharpener that I won't let my camp kids touch it & I tend to un-grip it from the counter and bring it home every night, because I don't trust any one else with my awesome sharpener. 

Head over to Classroom Friendly Supplies website  to get yours today and don't forget to check out their Facebook page!!!

iFont App - Thursday Raves Linky Party (6/13/13)

My rave today is about the iFont app for the iPad. I purchased this app on Saturday & easily made 5 fonts in one day. Check them out here. This is app is pretty easy to use & provides hours of fun for the low, low price of $6.99 (I don't know about the rest of you, but that's the most expensive app I've ever purchased.)

I've taken some screen shots, so I'm going to try & walk you through this, so you can see how easy it is.
When you open the app you can create a new file by selecting the file folder at the bottom & name your font whatever your little heart desires. Then you can choose an example font, to give you a guideline, if you wish. Here's a shot of some of that list, it's a lot of the typical fonts that you see in Word, etc.

 You can also control the thickness of the brush strokes or if you want to use a chisel tip, etc.

 Here is an example of a capital letter & a lowercase letter I did. There are also numbers and punctuation, if you wish to include them in your collection.

When you're all done creating your font you hit this button in the top right hand corner & select "Build Font via 2TTF.com"

Then you get this lovely processing screen.

Next you'll get this screen, I choose Email, so I can have it sent to my computer & I can save it to my computer, since it's actually my husbands iPad.

Once you e-mail it to yourself your e-mail will have a link to your font & a pin, click the link & it will bring you to a page like this & type in the pin.

Then, ta-da, here's your font.

From here you can choose to see how it looks when you type with it.

You can publish it.

And you can add a font license to the settings.

And I'm sure you all know how to download a font. But just in case here's a few screen shots of that. Now not that I'm using a Mac, so downloading a font is a little different, if I remember correctly, on a PC. 

For a Mac, hit download, your download box will come up. Double click on the font file after it finishes downloading.

A box will pop up with the font & click "Install Font"

There you have it a new font added to your collection, & it could be one that you created yourself.

For those of you using a PC and are not sure how to download a font to your computer here's a tutorial.

And here's another free font that I created for this tutorial. Click the picture of the font to grab it. 

What do want to rave about today? Link up with your rave, I can't wait to read about it!!!

Leave some comment lovin for those who have also linked up. 

Thursday Raves & A Few of my Favorite Things - 2 LINKY Parties

To avoid the blogging faux pas of posting multiple times in one day, I have to piggy back my posts into one post. On Thursday's I host my Thursday Raves Linky (which is still fledgling), but I also wanted to link up with Across the Hall in 2nd Grade for These are a few of my Favorite things summer linky. So first I will post about my "Morning Must Haves" for this weeks favorites, then keep on scrolling for my Thursday Raves and I hope you'll link up with me and with Across the Hall in 2nd Grade.

This weeks topic is Morning Must Haves and here are 3 of mine:

1. The morning news & it HAS to be Action News. I don't usually sit down & watch it, but I like to listen to it while I'm getting ready. 
2. Chocolate milk....I know, I know, I know. The drink of 5 year olds everywhere. My love of chocolate milk I think is hereditary, because my dad loves it too & now my son does. I don't like "hot" drinks, like coffee or tea (neither does my dad...are you starting to see a trend?) 
3. The snooze button. Having an alarm clock without that button is NOT an option. If I don't hit the snooze & just turn the alarm off, guess who is getting to work late? This girl!!! But I also have a really hard time getting out of bed the first time the alarm goes off, so I need the snooze, but then I usually hit it at least twice. It's an evil luxury.

Can't wait to see what your morning must haves are.

 Now for this Thursday's RAVE...

This week I'm raving about the program Evernote. (I am in no way affiliated with them, this rave is based on my personal experience) I actually found out about this from a fellow blogging buddy, but I'm sorry I can't remember who it was right now. If it was you please let me know & I'll give you credit for it. 

Are you like me with lists everywhere? I started keeping a little notebook in my purse this year to write down the things I needed to do, then I would go home and write a grocery list, then I would jot down a quick list at school of supplies/materials I needed. And what did I always end up doing with those lists? FORGETTING THEM! It never failed...if I was going to the grocery store I forgot the list. Or I would get to school the next day, walk into to my room, & go "Oh bumpers!" (sorry a line from Chuggington, my son is obsessed with trains) because I just remembered that I needed to create something the night before or grab something from home for a lesson. If this sounds like you, have no fear the solution is here!

EVERNOTE

It's a free program, unless you choose to upgrade to the premium subscription, that you download onto your computer, your phone, and/or iPad. The beautiful part your list(s) are always with you no matter where you go. If your like me & many others in this age of technology, your phone is always with you, so having the app on my phone is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

Here's the screen shot from my phone.

And here's the screen shot from my computer.

No matter what device you use, the information you entered syncs up with all of your other devices. For instance if you make a list on your computer, you can hit the sync button yourself or it will automatically sync after a certain amount of time (sorry I forget what that is right now, because I just hit the sync button after I update/create something), then when you open the app on your phone, voila, there's your list. 

You can even take a picture of something & add that to your list or a reminder. I don't know if you can see it that well, but in the picture of the screen shot from my phone. There's a picture on my Tpt create list. I found an organizer that I hastily threw together in my room & wanted to make a more polished version of it, so I took a picture of it, then uploaded it to my Evernote list as a reminder of the general look.

Evernote has changed my life, I love it and am so glad I heard about it. Make sure to check out it for yourself and to help get your organization on.

I can't wait to see what you have to rave about. Link up below.

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ProTeacher - Thursday Rave 5/29/13 (Linky Party)

It's that time of the week already! Boy this week really flew by! It's time for Thursday Raves. I hope you had enough time between my very first rave, last week, and now to come up with something that you would like to rave about.

My rave this week is a quick one, short & to the point. It's about the teaching forum ProTeacher.

I found this site a few years ago, by chance, & it's something I frequent, usually daily. It's such a great place to ask a question and get advice, feedback, suggestions, etc. Or you can go to the Teacher's Lounge just to post good news or ask for prayers & thoughts. The picture above is what you see when you log on and as you can see there are a lot of different categories, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are also all kinds of groups. There's even a group about blogging. As you can see there's a room for each grade level, mostly at the elementary level, plus there's a place to vent, that's always a good time. The Busy Board is a general place to post general questions about education. Then the Teacher's Lounge is the spot for non-teaching/non-education posts.

I just love this site. It's such a place of great support. It's like the blogging world. I've found so many great ideas through blogging, Tpt, and Pinterest and on ProTeacher I've been able to look back in the history of past posts and have a question answered without even posting it. Or if I need to post a question, there is usually someone out there who might have an answer or be able to point me in the right direction.

If you didn't know about this sight before, go check it out...by the way it's free. It's another great way to connect with all of our fellow educators out there.

I hope you will link up with me this week. I can't wait to hear what you have to rave about!!!

Thursday Raves 5/23/13

Welcome to the very first Thursday Raves with Polka Dot Palace!!!

Thursday Raves is quite simple. Write a post about something that you think is just awesome, amazing, marvelous, & stupendous; so glad you found it or someone told you about it. It may be a person, place, thing, website, app...it's really up to you. It doesn't necessarily have to be something that you have to have, (it's ok if is though) but it's something that you just thought was awesome & you need to "rave" about it to someone. Post it to your blog with the above picture in the post linked back to my weekly linky & voila!

Here's my first rave!!!

Scotch's Thermal Laminator
(I am in no way representing Scotch, I am simply expressing my opinion from personal experience)

This is the one that I have, but from looking at Wal-Mart's website it looks like they are carrying a newer one now.

This is what the newer one looks like, from Wal-Mart's website, but it seems like they use the same pouches.

 A few years ago a friend of mine was telling me about hers and how much she loved it and it was really useful for small items. One night the mister and I were at Wal-Mart and they were relatively inexpensive there, like $25-$30, so I snagged one and my life changed forever.

It's great because there's no film to change, you put what you want laminated into one of these pouches and send the pouch through the laminator. Scotch makes a few different sized pouches; I've used the 8.5x11 & the 9x12 and put multiple small items in it, like calendar pieces.

I really like to use mine for things that my kiddos are going to use a lot. The lamination from the pouches is thicker than your typical school laminator, so cardstock + Scotch laminating = very sturdy.
I tend to laminate playing cards, flash cards, etc. that the kids will be touching and playing with a lot to try and give them some longevity.

I also like to use it for my smaller pieces because it is easier to lay small pieces in the pouch, then to try & line them up with a big, school laminator. For instance, I have a calendar pocket chart and laminated all of the date pieces with my Scotch laminator instead of trying to beat the rollers on a big laminator.

If you don't already have a laminator like this I would highly recommend one. I don't think you would regret this purchase, especially if you're like me....I laminate everything!!!

Get Ready....for a Linky Party!!!

Hello to all my friends. I'm giving you a little advanced warning that I will be venturing into the world of linky parties! That's right me and my little, baby blog will be holding a linky party tomorrow, Thursday, May 23rd! So get your gears a thinking about what you want to rave about to all of us eager followers. I'm planning on making this a weekly, Thursday linky. I know I already have a long list of all the things that I want to rave about. Even if introduces one person to it (whatever it might be) I'll feel like it was all worth it.

Here's the image, so when you see it tomorrow you know it's time to link up & let us all know what you have to rave about.

I can't wait to read all about everyone's ravings!!!