I was recently contacted by Classroom Friendly Supplies with the chance to review their newest color, Popular Purple! I jumped at the chance to do a blogger review!

I first received the groovy green pencil sharpener when I was teaching Kindergarten a few years ago. I immediately took it to every teacher, administrator and custodian that would watch me demonstrate the magic of this fabulous pencil sharpener! The students were in awe and begged to get to sharpen pencils for the whole class. For too many years, we had pencils that wouldn't sharpen on all sides and it wasn't just the cheap pencil brands. The pencils would have wood over one edge of the lead and it made it so difficult for students to write. Who hasn't had this problem, right?

This sharpener outperforms any wall mounted or electric pencil sharpener I have ever owned. It is relatively quiet, easy to use and lots of fun for students! I highly recommend it and now it comes in the most beautiful, vibrant Popular Purple! It matches my library perfectly this year with our Backyard Bash theme.

I was talking with my daughter's third grade teacher and she had never heard of this sharpener, so I gave her the to opportunity to try it out for herself. She told me she wanted to come back with her cheapest pencil and I agreed that she should. She was amazed by how well it worked and even let me take her picture! ;)

If you've never tried this pencil sharpener, please head over to Classroom Friendly Supplies and buy one or three or enough for your whole school! You won't regret it! It also comes in colors like black, blue, green, pink and red.

The only flaw for me in the design is that the piece that comes with it to attach it to a table or ledge, doesn't work well on the majority of the surfaces in our library and it ends up slipping off while sharpening. I have noticed that most of our table and counter edges are rounded though, so if you have a straight table edge, it might work better.

*I was given a Popular Purple pencil sharpener by Classroom Friendly Supplies for my honest review of the product and to promote the new color, Popular Purple. The opinions given are 100% mine.

Did you get the book Monsters Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort in your Scholastic Booktalk Book Fair K-6 Preview Kit? If so, be sure to check out the freebie I created to go with the story. Students love anything about underpants and underwear! They crack me up how much they giggle when either word is mentioned.

The following activity would also be cute to add to your library decor if you use the monster book fair theme this fall. Our book fair actually starts next week! WHAT??? Nothing like hitting the ground running a few weeks into the new school year. ;)




The cute Little Monster set can be found FREE in Krista Wallden's TpT Store.

I am so excited to be participating in my first blog hop with the Facebook group Our Teaching Tribe! Our challenge this month was to participate in a Product Trade-Off. I was matched with Laura from A Grade-Filled Classroom. You can find her products at her TpT Store, A Grade-Filled Classroom. Laura is an Instructional Coach and she has a passion for teaching and helping other teachers become the best versions of themselves. She creates products especially for 1st-3rd grade teachers.


Laura sent me her Back to School Get to Know Me Task Cards and Back to School Ice-Breaker Cootie Catchers. My students are going to LOVE both activities!


I will be using the Back to School Get to Know Me Task Cards with my 2nd-4th grade students in the library. We will use it as a Scoot game to get the kids moving and to help ease some of the first week jitters students tend to have. There are several variations included so for you to use, which I love!


My students will especially like the Back to School Ice-Breaker Cootie Catchers. This ice-breaker might make me the most fun librarian on the planet! ;) The cootie catchers will allow students to break away from their comfort zone and find students they might normally be apprehensive to approach at the beginning of the year. I love that all the work is done and all the students have to do is color, fold and enjoy the cootie catchers. The detailed picture instructions in this product are great, as well. My students won't even realize that I'm observing their personalities and interactions while they are working on this fun activity!

If you like these products, you can find Laura (A Grace-Filled Classroom) on Pinterest, TpT, Instagram and on her blog. Thanks for sharing your great products with me, Laura!

Who else cannot wait for the TpT Love Back to School Sale August 3-4? My wish list is huge! My entire store (including my 1oo's chart bundle) is 28% off with the code: BTS15, so be sure to take advantage of the great prices!  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S…/Lil-Country-Librarian

I have been so inspired by all the Periscope teacher-bloggers over the last few weeks that I decided to give myself a blog makeover today. I needed a fresh and fun design for the new school year. Please be patient with me as I transition from one image to another on my blog, Facebook, Twitter, my TpT store, etc. It was so much fun to spend a little time on my branding. ;) Okay, it took me more than a little amount of time because I have apparently forgotten how to do everything since the last blog makeover I did.

Yesterday, I created a new watermark that I hope to start using on all my pictures, too. I realize I have been a bad little blogger!

TPT Video Tutorial: Making Editable PowerPoints by Saving a Slides as Images for TPT Products

 

Head on over to my TpT store to download a copy of my FREE Oviparous Animals Word Search Bookmarks! Several of our K-3 classes are learning about life cycles this spring, so I thought this might help some of our library students while extending the learning going on in their classrooms. Click on the picture below to get your freebie! I hope this is something that will be useful for your students.