My Favorite Classroom Supplies: 3 Hole Punch

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Like many teachers, I have a thing for school supplies.  I use them every day and want quality at a good price.  My philosophy for school supplies is not to buy the cheapest things, but rather the things that will give me the best value over their lifetime.  A teacher I work with has a paper cutter that she purchased when she first started teaching in 1962.  It is huge, heavy, sharp and still works like a charm.  That is ideally what I want from my school supplies.  If that can't happen, I do want them to last as long as possible.  

Last spring, I shared with you my favorite pencil sharpener and today I want to tell you about another one of my school supply loves.

I purchased this 3 hole puncher in the spring of 2004.  I was working as a classroom teacher in a 4th grade class and had already gone through several 3 hole punches when I decided enough was enough.  I took a pool of other teachers in the school to see what they were using, what they loved or hated about their 3 hole punch and tallied the results.  It was amazing how passionate teachers were about school supplies!  Then I

headed down to my local Staples (this was before my love affair with Amazon began).

I picked out this little fellow.

And I fell in LOVE!

After 10 years I am happy to say that I am still in love with this thing and here are the top five reasons why

1. The paper guide does NOT adjust!  About 99.9% of the time my students or I need to punch holes, it is on an 8.5"X11" piece of paper.  Having the paper guide stable makes it easy and accurate to ALWAYS have the holes line up.  No more changing that paper guide or having it break off!

2. The handle is easy to lock down into a not using place.  Because I have had this hole puncher through multiple classrooms, schools and grade levels, the ability to lock the handle down easily has been great for safety.  

3. It can punch holes in a lot of paper at once.  This hole puncher is rated for 40 sheets of hole punching capacity and I have easily done 40 sheets or maybe even a few more many times over the last 10 years. 

4. The paper circles cut out of the holes are cleanly cut out and stored in a large container below the puncher.  I can not stand when you use a 3 hole punch and it leaves the little paper circles attached in one corner and you have to rip them off.  Not acceptable and it makes a huge mess in my classroom.  

5. You don't have to push with all your strength or weight to get it to work!  I have worked with kids from Kindergarten up through 8th grade and none of them have struggled to push down on this thing.  The big level and sturdy construction allow a gentle push to get the job done.

10 years young!

After 10 years, this thing still gets used every day and still looks fairly new.  Here is to hoping the next 10 years are as good as the last 10 years!  My hope is that if my teaching career lasts the same 50 years that my colleagues has that thing thing will still be beside me.  

I just purchased my first laminator this week after checking out a lot of reviews on Amazon.  Here is to hoping that I will still be in love with this after 10 years.  

What are your favorite school supplies? Please respond in the comments below!