#ISTE2015

 You can follow Tracy at her new blog: The Knit Wit Teacher

Michelle and I had an amazing time at ISTE. Not only did we hear some amazing sessions but we spent an insane amount of time in the Exhibit Hall. This place was MASSIVE!!! My calves are sore from walking from one end to the other and then back again multiple times. We had so much fun talking with vendors and finding out more about their products and how to use them in the classroom. 

5.  Glogster

Glogster is a neat way to add notes, images, and videos to create your own multimedia poster. It is extremely kid friendly and what I loved about it is students submit their work to you through the app. Last year I used Book Creator and while I loved it, the recent IOS update made submitting work to me a nightmare. Glogster eliminates that headache. 

Right now Glogster is only 1 poster size page. When I talked to the guys of Glogster they told me that adding multiple pages was up next on their To Do list and they know teachers are anxiously waiting for this. Don't let the lack of pages stop you from using this app. 

I plan on using this app for Anchor Charts, book studies, character traits, and math lessons to name a few. I can't wait to use this one. 

4. Eduction City by edmentum

If you have any of the edmentum products like Reading Eggs, Reading Express, or Study Island you already know how awesome their products are. Education City is a component that I fell in love with for it's vidoes, lessons, activities, and the ability to link it to Study Island. Let me say that again. I can link the Education or Reading Express lessons into my Study Island lesson. That way if a kiddo needs a refresher they can follow the link and it will take them straight to the lesson I've linked. Pretty nifty! 

3. BrainPop. It's not just videos. 

I didn't know that you could create Concept Maps in BrainPop did you? If you click on a BrainPop video you will see Make-A-Map below the video. What's neat is that kids can drop and drag images from the video straight into their concept maps. Teachers and students now have individual logins also. You will need to get the code from your BrainPop tech person. If you hit "Enter Code" and then "What's a Code" it will send an email to the person in charge of your subscription and they can email it to you. This allows you to track your students and keep a record of what they are doing. They can also send you their maps. 

BrainPop also had games that go with videos! 

The downside: It's not iPad compatible YET, but they are working on it and will hopefully have that released soon. 

2. Classroom Booksource

Classrom Booksource saved my sanity this year. I scanned in every book in my classroom library using this app. Once every book was scanned in, I had the ability to track who was reading what book and if they turned it back in or not.  During ISTE I learned that this site also has a 10,000 teacher resource book section. These resources are free for teachers to use and are created by teachers. 

@https://twitter.com/TheBooksource

1. Tiny Tap

Tiny Tap is such a neat little app. This app has children's books that can be read aloud to students through the app and then ask comprehension questions. Many books are free but the site works like TPT where teachers can create and then sell their book creations. Check it out tinytap.it 

Let me finish my saying "Thank You". ISTE was amazing and I have to take a moment to praise my district for letting so many of us attend. Sometimes it's hard to be thankful for all the good that is around us. Working in a district that is 1:1 and provides their teachers with PD is such a blessing. I'm so thankful that I was able to spend the last few days in Philadelphia being surrounded by amazing educators. 

While traveling to and from ISTE I was able to visit some  neat sites. Check out the few pictures I remembered to take below! 

The West Virginia State Penitentiary. The cells were TINY. 5x7 and most had 3 grown men inside. The site is now on the national registry and a neat tourist attraction. 

Independence Hall

I never wanted to leave this store!!! So much chocolatey goodness. 

While touring the Hershey Story Museum we sampled chocolate drinks from around the world. My favorite was the JAVA. It had a very creamy caramel and vanilla taste. So yummy! 

Anyone want a Twizzler? 

This Irish pub was AMAZNG. Best pub food I've ever had. #Fado