EdExpo 2015 Top Ten

Last weekend, I had the awesome opportunity to work with EdMarket! Every year, they host an EdExpo full of hundreds of educational products.

This year, they invited about 50 bloggers to browse and give teachers’ perspectives!

Believe me when I say this room went on… and on… and on. It was a whirlwind, but I found some amazing things you’ll want for your classroom! I’ll share MY top ten with you soon, but all of the 2015 EdExpo bloggers compiled our Top Ten lists, and today I’m going to share them with you!

(Okay, to be fair- there were two ties. So there are actually TWELVE products!)

KAPLA Blocks from Kapla Tom’s Toys

I have to say- I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of companies aiming to give kids creative outlets and hands-on, play-based learning! These blocks are great in that they can be used simply- or, as you can see, used for some intensely innovative designs.

 

Cool Circuits from ScienceWiz

Electricity is always so fun to teach- but sometimes getting materials that are safe, fun, and durable can get to be very expensive. This set from Science Wiz teaches kids about circuits through puzzles, and the light-up factor makes them super engaging!

Circuit Sticker Books from Chibitronics

I was completely and totally in love with this set. The inventor took her love of paper crafting and combined it with her science and engineering passions, and came up with THIS. Using LED stickers (yes, STICKERS!)  and copper tape, kids can create nearly flat circuits. It was so unlike anything I’d ever seen, and so perfect for learning about electricity!

Pencil Grip series from The Pencil Grip

The wide array of grips this company had just blew me away. I loved seeing the different fun, squishy, sensory-friendly grips they had for every stage of writer!

Fiddle Focus Busy Fingers from Creative Educational Strategies & Services

If you’ve ever had a student who needs to fidget or has any kind of sensory needs, this is a thin foam block covered in four fabrics of different textures- perfect for velcro-ing under a student’s desk for a quiet, satisfying way to get the sensory wiggles out. (I’m super thrilled to be trying this out with some of my students already!)

Math Bands from Learn  In Style

Don’t you love finding a product created BY a teacher? These math bands help your students with skip-counting and multiplication. They simply start at the star and count around. Working on 7’s? Touch the star and then count 4 times to get to 7x4.

The F.U.N. Empty Number Line System from Learning Advantage

Have you ever struggled to get your students to connect one unit of math to the next? This open number line allows you to add to it through the year so students can see that 1/2 is the same as 0.5 and also the same as a visual fraction. I love that there are versions for different grade levels, too!

Education Kit from GoldiBlox

Known for making engineering girl-friendly, GoldieBlox makes a ton of innovative, creative kids’ toys with an engaging literacy component and LOTS of hands-on fun! The class set would be perfect for getting your kids creating and engineering- I would LOVE to have this in my science classroom!

Boinks Fidgets from Endless Possibilities, Inc.

You can see from the booth (and the host’s amazing earrings!) just how much FUN this company is. What I loved most were the fidgets (see the close-up top right). The woven plastic tube is sealed on both ends with a marble inside. I found myself fiddling with it the whole time we talked- without even thinking about it!

Say It! Game from FeliX Fun

I love games that you can explain quickly and get kids playing right away. This is a great game for building language skills- kids have to find a way to add their word in a sentence that adds on to the story the class is telling. My kids are already playing at indoor recess (and they don’t even realize they’re learning!)

The Reading Game

From the makers of Wordly Wise, a program for early vocabulary development. The game element keeps kids motivated, but the way this game fosters success with a few words at a time would make it especially powerful for those struggling readers in your room.

 

Touchtronic Letters (and Numbers) by Junior Learning

Have you ever wished iPad learning didn’t outright replace hands-on learning? These letters are an amazing way to do BOTH. These magnetic letters work hand-in-hand with the Touchtronic app, and as kids place the letters on the iPad screen, they can hear the sounds they make. Self-checking? Yes. Independent? Yes. Surprisingly affordable? YES!

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So, where can you find these awesome products? Many of them can be found in local teacher stores near you- especially those that are part of EdMarket. You can search HERE to find a teacher store near you – perfect for checking it out in person before you buy!

I am really grateful to EdMarket for letting me see some of the fantastic new products in education today, and I can’t wait to share more with you about my favorites!

Which product would you be most excited to try in YOUR classroom?

Classroom Library Company Review- part 2

I got out of work early today!! Yaaaay! Bloggin' time :) And yes, there really is a giveaway in the works!

So, the other day I posted my review of some supplies sent to me by the Classroom Library Company.

They have fantastic book boxes,

library bins,

and systems for organizing your classroom (or school) library, including leveled libraries. (Make sure that if you didn't see it, you check out part 1 of my review here.)

Well, they also sent me this book about classroom libraries.

It was really fantastic. It didn't self-promote (although their products would work very well with the ideas in the book) and talked very practically about what you need in a classroom library to build a community of readers.

Full of color photos, too! I could definitely see this in the teacher resource library at my school.

The catalog, though...

THE CATALOG, GUYS.

From the book-shaped business card (totally adorable!) and throughout the learning-focused selections, you can tell that TEACHERS are behind this company.

As a new teacher, you know I have been building my classroom library though things like library book sales and Scholastic Book Clubs, but I have to admit that even my skinny wallet is sorely tempted by this catalog. Seriously, it was worse than when I walk into a bookstore- because these aren't books sold one-by-one, but organized into groups of books I want.

The book collections you can buy from them have such an incredible range.

The books are sorted by topic, by season, by level, by grade, by teaching strategy, by author study...

And many of them come with a teacher's book to give you teaching ideas.

They come in guided reading packs, class sets, audiobooks or audiobook sets, and basically just about any way you want them.

And the books and collections will always come already sorted and labeled in a cardboard box like this, ready to slide onto a shelf if you don't have book bins.

Sorry, I know I already talked about that, but it blows my mind. Really, as someone who spent hours just sorting (and not even labeling yet!) my books, I can't believe there is a company that sends you a library so ready to go.

How great would this site be for setting up a school leveled library, like with Title I funds? No one in your school would have to volunteer to spend hours and hours setting it up, and yet they should stay organized anyway.

(Not to mention that you can use the Book Retriever app to keep track of the books checked in and out!)

And you could order these thick, nice plastic level equivalency cards and bookmarks. I love the hole in them- mine will fit exactly on my nametag, so I'll have it with me all the time!

So, yes, these book sets are easy to use. But it would be hard if they didn't already have a set you liked, right?

NOPE. They have a form specifically for Creating Your Own Custom Library- and they will walk you through the choices you have and help you make it perfect.

And if the customer service is anything like my contacts with the company, it will be fabulous.

The BEST part of all of this?

They have a 30% discount off of list price ALL THE TIME. No minimum purchase, no outrageous shipping- just a discounted price for buying through the Classroom Library Company.

And when CLC builds a book package, you can see from the examples that they include quality literature that are probably the ones you read aloud every year anyway! (Unlike the 50 Books for $50 that got me volume, but not many favorite books.)

If you check out their website, you'll notice that it's still being built- but if you click to view the virtual catalog, you can see everything they offer. And if you're anything like me, you'll go to glance through it and end up spending forty minutes poring over all of the possibilities that exactly match the things you teach!

I know that collections can be expensive, and most are still out of my personal price range at the moment. But I am really hoping that my principal won't be able to pass up the chance at Common-Core aligned additions to our library, especially when we could get specific sets to share that already come with a teacher book (just perfect for professional development).

Thanks to Classroom Library Company for sending me some free products! They sent them to me without any obligation to review them, but I couldn't help but share. Seriously... the containers seemed to be excellent quality, the organizing materials make sense for what teachers really need, and the book collections are made and shipped in a way to make teachers' lives easier- all at a discount, with personal customer service.

If you're revamping your library this summer, definitely check this company out!