This is one of my favorite Sesame Street segments ever:
Fun story:
The other day, my department chair came into one of my classes; it was her own planning period. She was placing a supply order and wanted to know if I needed anything for my classroom.
“A pencil sharpener,” I told her, because it was true. We have demolished the blades on one electric sharpener and the motor on a second. A third battery powered sharpener mysteriously disappeared on the last day of last semester. At this point, I would like nothing more than a steady, reliable manual sharpener that screws bolts into the wall.
“Is that all? Are you sure you don’t need anything else?” She looked around the room. “File folders? Post-It Notes? Crayons?”
Here, one of my students — politely, but firmly — stopped her. “Miss, do you know how many crayons she has? Look over there. That box and that box” — she indicated two shoe boxes — “are full of crayons. And there’s one more in that cupboard with all the little ends and pieces. When we don’t have a pencil in class, she makes us write our notes in crayon. Do not give her more crayons!”
End note: There are 2 working crayon sharpeners in my classroom.
