You Oughta Know About Skoolbo

Ahoy, there blogging friends! It is that time of the year again for me to link up with Jasmine McClain from Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for another monthly "You Oughta Know About..."

And this month, I really wanted share with all of you a free online CCSS educational game called Skoolbo that is fun, engaging, and educational for students. 

Skoolbo was created by educators and game developers with the purpose of creating accessible learning solutions for kids. It focuses on ELA and Math Common Core State Standards and the games are broken down by each standard and skill. 

Students get to create their own character and by playing the "games" they earn points to buy their characters new accessories and vehicles the character uses for each game. 

I was contacted a few months ago by Skoolbo to pilot the program in my classroom to see how my students and I liked the software. 

As a teacher, I like how I am able to assign each student the skill and standard I would like them to focus on; making it differentiated for each students' levels and needs. Most importantly, I am able to track their progress and share the reports with their parents.

Best of all? It is FREE for teachers, students, and parents. Parents are able to download the game to their desktop or laptops at home and students are able to continue practicing their skills outside of the school setting. I love this part because as teachers, there is only so much time my students are allowed to go on their one on one laptops and use this. Allowing it to be accessible at home, increases my students' options for extra practice of skills in a fun and engaging way in multiple settings.

But, you don't have to take my word for it. Here is a demo video of what students get to see when they play one of the educational games:

An InLinkz Link-up

April Currently

Whew... another month has come and gone; meaning only one thing: linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for April Currently!

Listening: What can I say? T Swizzle just knows how to speak to my heart and she does it again with this song. SO glad I got the Deluxe version of 1989 from Target because this is my anthem y'all!

Loving: Fox TV's new drama, Empire. It's really all about Cookie Lyons and Jamal Lyons okay? 

Thinking: Sigh . . . Smarter Balance test and panicking, worrying, freaking out about whether or not my students will remember everything I taught them and apply the skills and strategies they have been working so hard for in class? I really hate standardized tests!!! 

Wanting & Needing: Summer vacation! My countdown began already. 10 LONG weeks left . . .

My Blog Name: I really wanted to incorporate a name that I could use no matter what grade level I taught. So specifying a grade was definitely out of the question for me. Then I knew I wanted to incorporate my name on it somehow. So, because my last name is Li, I decided to change the spelling of "lovely" to "loveli". I hope people get that and don't think I am a horrible speller cause that wouldn't be good, now would it? LOL!

March Currently

Wow... where did February go? It's like I blinked and the next thing I knew; it was March already! But hey . . . I ain't complaining because March means SPRING BREAK baby!!! Oh, it also means *drums rolls please* that I am linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade for March's Currently (still can't believe I missed February's...Grrr....)

Listening: To my favorite band's new song, "Sugar". I mean I already LOVE Adam Levine to pieces and then he goes and does this music video surprising newlyweds at their wedding. My heart is melting as we speak! (Also does Adam look good in a  suit or what? Behati, I am SO jealous!)

Loving: How cute are these 2 new TOMS canvas shoes? I just ordered them and they are calling spring! Isn't the lace detail on the aqua ones so pretty? I'm glad I didn't get the crochet ones since these are kind of similar.

Thinking: About how quickly I will bolt out of my classroom door when that teacher bell rings at 2:45 p.m. I will be hopping and skipping and twirling to my car so I can get ready for my 2 weeks of Spring vacation! Yeeeehaaaaa!!! 

Wanting: For this week to end. 'Nough said. 

Needing: For my So. Cal weather to come back. I am a big wimp when it comes to rain and cold. Why why why??? Where is the sun? Rain, rain go away please come back another day! 

Spring Break Plans: (singing to the tune of Will Smith's "I'm Going to Miami", except replaced with "Hawaii"). My sister is the Maid of Honor for her BFF and guess who gets to be her +1? That's right, this lucky teacher here! It just so happens that it is the same week as my Spring Break. We have kayaking, snorkeling, luaus, and museums lined up before the wedding. I am SO excited because it has been a while since I vacationed for the pure purpose of relaxing and basking in the sun!!!

Classroom Friendly Supplies Sharpener Review

Ahoy, blogging friends! I was recently given the wonderful opportunity from Troy Decoff of Classroom Friendly Supplies to review their classroom pencil sharpener. I've heard SO many wonderful things from teacher friends that have this pencil sharpener and this was a great opportunity for me to give this sharpener a try!

If you're anything like me, you know classroom pencil sharpeners can be quite the NIGHTMARE! They're noisy, messy, and often break quite easily. UGH!

From my student days, teachers always made us use the pencil sharpener that was attached to the wall. Not only did I HATE using those as a kid, I hated them even more as a teacher! The case always fell apart spilling all the pencil shavings and the students always mess around with the hole section and that cap always fell off! For the last few years, I tried another well known electronic pencil sharpener and I used to think it was the best I would ever find in a classroom pencil sharpener.

BUT . . . Lo and Behold . . .

Classroom Friendly Supplies' pencil sharpener results compared to the one I sharpened with my electric pencil sharpener. I am seriously SO impressed and amazed at how sharp my pencil is. Now my kids won't complain how quickly their pencils become dull (I hope) and won't have to sharpen as much. The best part though? It is quiet and mess free!!! 

I know I got on the bandwagon of this awesome pencil sharpener a bit late, but if you're like me just discovering this or have never heard about it yet, then I recommend that you head on over to Classroom Friendly Supplies website and try one out for yourself. It'll seriously change the way you feel about kids sharpening pencils in class!

You Oughta Know About ...

. . . Book Scanner App & Classroom Check Out App !

Happy 2015, everyone! I am linking up again with the wonderful Jasmine McClain from Buzzing with Mrs. McClain to bring you this new year's You Oughta Know About . . . Book Scanner App!

If you are a teacher that has your own classroom library and your school uses Accelerated Reader, then this post is for you!

About 5 years ago, my 5th grade friend and I spent months coming to school on a Saturday to label each book that had an A.R quiz in our school's entire library and our own classroom library. I know what you might be thinking: "cray, cray"! It's okay, I had a stipend position that paid us to do that. So worry not. But as you can tell, that was some tedious stuff; coming in on a weekend having to type EVERY single book title and author on A.R bookfinder, copying and pasting all the reading level, grade appropriateness, and etc... onto an Excel sheet, to printing a label for the book's spine, and then finally sticking all that info on the book. Sounds stressful, right?!?

Well, stress no more! This is where the bookscanner app comes in. It works on any phone that has a camera so that you can scan the book's barcode, just like you would scan a Q.R Code or a barcode if you use Target Cartwheel to find if an item has deals.

After scanning the book, the app gives you all the A.R information you or your student may need to know. Just as so:

Now you will have the book's quiz #, book reading level, points students earn, and interest level of a book in A.R. I even keep an old old iPhone that has a scanner in my classroom so students can check the information when they can't find it on my book's spine or on A.R bookfinder.

The best part of the bookscanner app however, is that it then sorts a book inventory list on your phone for you and allows you to have a list of all the books you own in your classroom library that has an A.R quiz. 

Simple and easy peasy like Mac 'n Cheesy right? Now no more worrying on organizing your classroom library. But wait, what about if you allow your kiddos to check out books from your classroom library so they can read for A.R time or at home? No worries, I got you covered again!

That's where Classroom Check Out App comes in and saves your day! No more losing books you spent your hard working dollars on or forever saved Scholastic points on. The Classroom Check Out App will help you with keeping track of your books that have been borrowed & checked out and to which student.

First, you scan the book the students want to check out so that it registers in your phone's system. It even allows you to scan and see how many copies of one book you have:

Next, you create your class list:

Then, just like magic . . . you are now able to keep track of everything at the palm of your hands! It tells you which student has which books and the date that they borrowed your book. 

I hope you can find these two apps as useful to you as it has been for me. I don't know how I survived the last 5 years without these 2 apps! 

An InLinkz Link-up

January 2015 Currently

WOW . . . another year has come and gone. I seriously CANNOT believe it is already 2015! For my first post from the new year, I will be linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade.

Listening: Catching up with Season 8 of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians". I seriously have not had much television time this school year. It's nice to just veg out on my couch and watch mindless show with absolutely nothing to do!!!

Loving: I have also been catching up on all the books I have not had a chance to read during the regular school year time. I just finished 3 books and they were ALL so amazing! The first one I read was If I Stay after renting the movie version Redbox. Then, I went and read the sequel, Where She Went. 

There were a lot of mixed reviews on the sequel and a lot of people didn't (*Spoiler Alert) like the happy ending. (*Spoiler Over). For me though, I absolutely LOVED the sequel and Adam's point of view. I will admit, the ending was rather rushed, but not every book is going to end the way one wants it to. 

Then, the 3rd book that I can't believe took me so long to discover is Eleanor and Park. Wow! Just absolutely WOW is all I can say. It took me back to high school crushes and I just fell in love with Park's character and his entire family! I hope there is a movie version of this. I would love to see how it is interpreted into a movie.

I am now working on reading Paper Town. 

Were it not for the fact that I get super lightheaded and nauseous from taking antibiotics for my root canal infection, I would've finished this book last night. 

Thinking: And speaking of root canal infection, I can't stop thinking about it. I have been to SO many doctor and dentist appointments this past week. First of all, I didn't even know there are different types of dentists and they all focus on a different thing. I first went to my regular dentist for a cleaning, then had to go to the endodontist, then the oral dentist. Now, I found out that my root canal infection is so bad that there is no saving the tooth so I will have to get an implant; which I have been researching and found out is extremely costly and my insurance does NOT cover it. Seriously a pain in the buttocks!

Wanting: Some Pinkerry Yogurt and KBBQ. The perfect combo to a lunch or dinner!

Needing: To heal. I have lovely kiddos this school year, but they come in with all sorts of colds and flu to school. I not only had the regular cold and flu, but it got so bad that it turned to a sinus infection. I pretty much have been a walking mucous for the last 3 months. Pretty disgusting, right?

Yes, Maybe, I Wish: Yes, to having an extra week off! I get 3 weeks off and I can use it to recuperate my body. Maybe I should start getting off my butt and start putting all the Christmas decor away, but I am not ready to do that yet. I wish that I had  a personal assistant to run and do all of my errands. I can't help but feel entitled to my vacation time and I just want to do NOTHING, NOTHING I tell ya!

That is all for my January currently.  Wishing everyone the best 2015 has to offer!

December Monday Made-It

Oh my goodness, December is already here and I only have 2 weeks left until my Winter Break. Now how exciting is that? I realized that it has been a while since I linked up with 4th Grade Frolics for some Monday Made-it. I definitely would like to share with all my wonderful bloggy friends what I have been up to this month. So . . . here I go!

Acrylic Sub Tub

My good friend's birthday is coming up and I decided to hand make her a gift this year instead of buying something she might not need or like. Recently I have been obsessed with acrylic items; from my acrylic bed tray to my acrylic EC recipe box. So, when my friend Aris from Sailing into Second, introduced me to an acrylic file organizer from Target turned into a sub tub I just had to get myself one. 

Below is a picture of the one I made for myself:

(Yes, I was too lazy to take my tub out of my shelf. Don't judge!)

Here is the one I made my friend:

(I feel like the one I made her came out WAY better than mine. LOL)

Aaaaannnddd . . . here is what I mean by obsessed with acrylic:

(I even had to get myself an acrylic pencil holder, which is really a straw holder)

Nautical Whales Book Hospital & Box Top Bucket

This past summer, I remember going to Learning in Wonderland's  blog and telling myself that I needed to make myself a nautical book hospital and box top bucket like she did for her owl themed classroom. However, that project got put on hold since I was teaching a 2/3 combo class for the first 2 months of this school year. BUT now that I am a regular 3rd grade class teacher again, I have time during weekends and breaks to actually craft like I like to! I was finally able to create my projects using my Cricut Explore:

(I'm SO happy with how my project turned out! You can't tell from this pic, but the whale to the left is also holding a box top sticker)

Winter Classroom Projects

Pinterest has seriously been my best friend this past year. I saw this awesome D.I.Y for kids using mason jars as snow globes and decided to try it to test out the level of difficulty. It actually is a very easy project, especially if you have parent helpers helping in the classroom. I will be having my kiddos bring in an empty and unlabeled glass jar to school next week along with a picture of themselves. I also used my Cricut Explore to make labels that say, "There SNOW Place Like Home". Just search for "mason jar snow globes" on Pinterest and you will find all the directions and list of materials needed!

(Believe it or not I don't print out pictures and this old picture of me feeding a deer at the SD Wild Animal Safari Zoo was the only picture I could find of myself)

 Elf on a Shelf Delivery

Tomorrow, Santa will be delivering my Elf on a Shelf book along with a letter to my class. My sister made this awesome bow and I am using Jaimie Knudson from Kinder World Way Elf on a Shelf resources and note tags this year. I can't wait for my class to meet their elf!

 Stampin' Up

Isn't my sister so crafty? She held a stamp class for my teacher friends this past Sunday. These are the cards we all made! My favorite one is the car with the Christmas tree and the snow angel. I just hung mine up on my mini tree.

 O.C.D Tendencies

Lately I have been getting WAY too many clip art (I mean can you blame me? They're just SO cute!) and I was starting to lose track of what I had already purchased or not. So . . . my crazy, anal, needs to be organized or my life is chaotic self; was inspired by Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd's "Organize Your TpT Cover" to organize ALL MY CLIP ART COLLECTION! 

This is what my file cover and 2 out of 10 pages of my clip art file looks like:

(Don't you just love the Aztec background paper? I'm also obsessed with collecting digital background paper if you can't tell)

As you can see, when I need a file I can just open my document open on my laptop and see if I have the clip art already or not. I am still working on adding the actual title of each clip art above each picture. My summer plan is to have all my digital files that I purchased on TpT also organized by subject. Life is just easier when it is organized, that is all I can say! 

Whew . . . what a long post!