Table Supplies & A 'Sharp' Giveaway!

Since switching to tables from desks, I have had to deal with the lack of quick-access kids used to have to pencils, erasers, sticky notes and the like. Granted, oftentimes these items were buried in their desk, so I use the term "quick" loosely ;)

I wanted to share with you what lives on top of our tables and how we manage these supplies communally:

The eraser label is a part of my School Supply Label Set on TpT.

Inside each bin are 2 pencils and one eraser per student and a pad of sticky notes.

I have two supply helpers as a class job and they help me throughout the week ensure that the pencil and eraser supplies are up to snuff. I also have all the kids help before I dismiss them for recess- clean table bin= dismissed first to go outside. It's amazing how quickly that gets the cups, pencils and sticky notes back in order :)

The teal bins are from Hobby Lobby- they had a whole teal bin extravaganza over the summer and I cleared them out. I will have to show you my table supplies for markers, color pencils and glue soon- that's when it really becomes obvious! I bought the tealish-clear cups from the Dollar Store (8 for $1!) and they are cheap, but easy to replace if they crack. I used my friend Kristen's idea for glass pebbles in the bottom of the cup so that it won't tip over when empty. She's a super-genius :)

Here's another thing that's different when it comes to table supplies: I don't have a pencil sharpener available to students. BIG adjustment this year, but hearing that awful thing in the middle of a minilesson was so deflating, so it's been worth it.

Instead, I have been using the Sharp & Dull Pencil Buckets and those have rocked!

You can get this FREE download in my TpT Store

This system does leave me as the primary pencil sharpener, which I actually don't mind.

Why, you ask?

Well, because even though I don't have a pencil sharpener available to students, what I do have rocks my socks! It's appropriately labeled "The Quietest Pencil Sharpener" and it makes me more than willing to be the Sharpener Queen :)

Not only is this little guy quiet, it also sharpens pencils of any quality (cheap dollar store all the way up to the amazing Ticonderoga). This has been wonderful because I love offering pencils as prizes, but those awful plastic-coated ones from Target's dollar section would always jam my electric sharpeners :(

It's also super-fast, no matter what the quality, and best of all, the point is incredibly sharp!! Now, my kids can use a pencil for much longer than their dull electrically-sharpened counterpart (this also doesn't eat the pencils to death like my old electric one).

Here's proof:

See?! Holy smokes!

This sharpener has turned pencil sharpening into my zen time :) It's super-simple to use and there's even a helpful video on the website to help you out, since it is a bit funkier than the traditional sharpener. Once you get the hang of it, though, it goes very smoothly!