Oh my word! The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of awesome! I've had so much going on it's been hard to catch up & let you all know about it! A few weeks ago, I got to attend the Ed Market Association's Ed Expo in Dallas. Oh my GOSH! What a fabulous opportunity! So awesome.
The Ed Expo is in essence a trade show for vendors. Ed Market brings together “companies of all sizes that produce and deliver every type of product you find in an education environment" with retailers - brick & mortar stores, online retailers, and even school corporations.
This year was the pilot of a new Teacher Trendsetter program-- the goal of which is to provide insight to the retailers who are attending the Expo. A select number of teacher/bloggers were invited to attend and become Teacher Trendsetters. And I was one of them!! Wahoo!! I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was!
As Teacher Trendsetters, we were tasked with visiting each booth, discovering the products that were available, and to identify the ones that would be teachers' "gotta have". And let me tell you, that was not as easy a task as you may think! There were literally hundreds of products....and we each had to narrow our list down to our "Top 10"....NOT and easy task! The products which ended up on our "Top 10" were then awarded that gorgeous orange and blue ribbon up there in the picture, and would be named a "Teacher Trendsetter Product".
(By the way-- see that big ole orange button up on the clipboard? That's not a mini-clipboard, folks! That button IS.THAT.BIG! We definitely were noticed and easily identified as Teacher Trendsetters! And it certainly was a great ice breaker! haha!)
Top 10 Teacher Products
Creative Teaching Press - Easy Daysies
Easy Daysies is a magnet schedule for kids. There are a couple different packs...
Classroom Management
Daily Starter Kit
Add On Packs - Family & Extra-Curricular, Chores & Special Times, Get Dressed & Bathroom Routines.
One of the things I liked about this is that it moves kiddos toward independence. When they move a magnet over, they experience that same sense of accomplishment that you do when you check something off your to-do list. AND - just think of how well this will work for students with special needs!
How cool that I got to meet Elaine, the creator of Easy Daysies, too. Loved talking with her! She's a mom and a teacher, too!
Blue Orange Games - Spot It! & Spot It Tell a Tale
In Spot It! Games, each round playing card has a series of pictures and/or words. Between any two cards, there is always a match. The object is to be the first player to spot the match between your card & the one that's in play. I really like that it trains the brain to look for details. You can try it out and play an online demo game HERE. Have fun!
The Spot It! Tell a Tale game is in the forefront of the picture above. You can see that each of those cards has one picture. The goal for this game is for players to work together to create a story. Each card turn may give a setting, character, or detail that must be incorporated. I can definitely see using this in my classroom during writing time!
Wiggles 3D - Yikerz!
Okay people. This game was actually selected by Mensa as one of the five best new games in 2010. Mensa. Yes-- Mensa. I seriously love that this game has the potential to intrinsically teach kiddos about measurement, estimation, angles, problem solving, and just plain thinking! See those gray little stone-looking pieces? They're actually magnets! To play this game, you place each of your magnets one at a time, taking turns with the other player, on the triangular pieces of mouse-pad-like material, trying to stay out of the magnetic field of the other magnets. The object is to get rid of all of your magnets first.But here's the kicker....if you cause magnets to stick together, or if you push any off the edge, you have to pick all of those up! Fun!
Eureka - Scratch Off Stickers
Come on! How cool are these?! Just write, or print, cover up with a scratch off sticker....& you have a super fun, super awesome self-checking activity...or maybe a reward? The sky is the limit with these!
Boojee Beads - ID Badge Holders
My little-old-phone-picture truly doesn't do these justice....but as ID lanyards go.....these are FABulous! Really-- they look like the jewelry you might wear on a regular day. Super cool thing? Your ID can clip completely off! Pop it into your bag, & you've got a necklace!
Stop over & take a look at their website. Their pictures show much better detail...you'll be able to get a better idea.
Maranda Enterprises - Speedy Recall
Alright. Two decks- one with letters of the alphabet, the other with topics. Quick! Turn over one from each pile. What's a vegetable that begins with M?
The first person to name one gets to keep both cards. And play continues.
I got to play this game for a few minutes at the Maranda booth. Super fun!
I'm thinking this would be a GREAT game for language development. Can you imagine how well this could work for ELL kiddos?
Maranda Enterprises - Nounsense
Another great game for language development! For this game, players start with 60 cards, the objective is to get your teammates to name the person, place, or thing on the card.....but you cannot say the word....you can only give description & hints!
Round 2 - Same 60 cards, but you can only give 3 word hints!
Round 3 - Same cards, but only 1 word hints!
Copernicus - Dewey the document camera stand
This product is just genius! The stand can hold an IPad, and is equipped with a cord that connects right to your projector. Then, use the camera feature on your IPad, & you essentially have a document camera!! Genius! What a great, cost effective way to get document cameras into classrooms. This little baby retails for about $100. Anyone excited yet?
Learning Resources - Make a Splash 120 Mat
Check this out! What a terrific way to make Math kinesthetic!
Roylco - Laminated Speech Bubbles
So many things you can do with this! I picture using them for student response. Kiddos could write their response on the speech bubble, then hold up. Great little tool for a quick, informal, formative assessment!
You can find the Teacher Trendsetter Award winning products and many more at retailers in your area...just use the handy zip code searchable database! You can also click the image below. Support small businesses in your community!
Wow! And this was just the tip of the iceberg! What a wonderful experience! It was great to meet so many people who are behind the awesome products we see on store shelves or online. So interesting to talk with them, answer questions, and learn more about the process, research, and marketing research that goes into their products!
Oh! And remember my giant button up there at the beginning? BIG thanks to the terrific people at Creative Teaching Press for fixing me right up!
So--- of all of those products in my Top 10 -- which are you most interested in learning more about?
Pssst - Don't miss out on The Very Hungry Caterpillar Giveaway! Click over & enter!