News from Chester Creek Technologies |
March 2011 Chester Creek is exhibiting at the NSSEA (National School Supply and Equipment Association) trade show this April, 7-9th. If you’re in San Antonio, or planning a trip south, please stop by. We would love to show you our growing line of products, including many new products we have added over the past few months.
If you stop by, say hello to Chester Creek’s newest hire, Mr. Paul Estep. Paul comes to Chester Creek with a great deal of experience in the education product/supply field. From 2002 – 2006, Paul was the Director at Excelligence Learning. Before that, he was the founder of ECMD and Director at Beckley Cardy. Although we’re not certain, we think he’s a good cook, likes to travel and fish. Chester Creek is lucky to have him on-board! Chester Creek will also exhibit at the Mache homeschooling conference April 15th & 16th at the DECC in Duluth, MN. This will be our first and biggest push into the home school market, and we are excited. So likewise, if you’re in the area, please stop by, we’d love to see you.
Chester Creek now has in stock – our Wireless VisionBoards and wireless mouse; our large-key numeric keypad; Braille stickers for our large-key keyboards, software bundles for both kindergarten and early learners….and more. You’ll just have to spend a little time roaming around our web site to see everything. Call with questions, or if you’d like more information on any of the above.
December 2010
What’s new at the Creek Joining us at the office here in Duluth are Cari and Meg, one a new face and one an old friend. Cari is a recent graduate from Hamline Business University working as a marketing specialist/intern. After three years of school in the cities, where she worked in the main office of a charter school, she is happy to be home up north. Here at Chester Creek, she’s been busy delving into the world of homeschooling, special needs children, and Spanish immersion schooling. She has also been given the great task of representing Chester Creek on the blogosphere. You can now read our blog or follow us on twitter. Meg was employed by Chester Creek for four years, then left in search of greener pastures. Once she stepped foot into Minneapolis, however, she realized just how much she missed the team at Chester Creek, her customers and the work. So, she made the move back to the frigid northland and has had a smile on her face ever since. Her title at Chester Creek is Marketing Specialist, but her range of expertise stretches far beyond. It’s good to have her back….we all missed her. Welcome home, Meg (um, Tubby Monkey). One of Meg’s lovable quirks is her attachment to the office tree. She refers to it as her “wall.” This month Meg’s tree is all dressed up for the holidays, to add some festivity to our office.
We’re going to be rolling out a whole slew of new products in the new year. - We have two software packs we hope to be rolling out late this winter. One will be pre-k and the other for elementary age children. These are both fun, educational packs with math, reading, and other subjects. Each pack with include five games in different subject areas.
- For kids learning to type, we offer the LessonBoard, color-coded for finger placement. For more advanced students, we are going to introduce the LessonBoardPro. Like its big-sister board, the Pro will be a standard keyboard with color-coding indicating finger placement. However, the keys will be blank. This lack of labels is to encourage memorization of key placement on the keyboard, and eliminate the urge to “peek,” which significantly slows touch-typing speed.
- This January we hope to be unveiling our new wireless VisionBoard2. Just like the current VisionBoard2, the only difference is that this keyboard is wireless and functional up to 30 feet from the computer.
- Also coming in January (we hope) is a large key number pad to go with the VisionBoards. This is the same layout as standard keyboards have on the right end of the board. Because the keys of our VisionBoards (and some children’s boards) are so large, there was no room for the number pad. This is product that plugs right in to the VisionBoard2 as an optional accessory.
- We will also be putting braille stickers up for sale in the coming months. These are clear stickers that go on right over the keys of our large-key keyboards for the vision impaired. (Large-key Braille stickers are found nowhere else on the planet, by the way.) They do not impede sight of the standard key labels. For a small fee, we can put it all together for you here, before we ship, so what you receive is a ready to use, braille-equipped keyboard for use in home, school, or office.
- Another piece of assistive technology called TextSpeak is also on our agenda. This is a nifty little box that plugs into any of our Chester Creek Keyboards (including the as-yet-unreleased wireless VisionBoard2) and speaks what is being typed. This is for those with speech impairments of any kind. Portable, it requires no computer, just a keyboard for input, and the box for clear, spoken output. We are also hoping to offer it with our Chester Headphones for more privacy in public.
- Speaking of headphones, Chester Creek has a great pair of headphones out this year. They are easily adjustable for small children or large-noggin-ed adults alike. With removable, soft vinyl padding, they are also quick to sanitize for use in schools or family homes. In-line volume control and clear stereo sound make these headphones a must-have.
- Last but not least, this year we will be producing a headset with our normal headphones and a sturdy, adjustable, high-quality microphone. Again, these are wonderful for schools, offices, or gaming at home. They should roll out in January.
One last tidbit: Starting this holiday season, we are offering gift wrapping for all of our products. For a small fee, you can have the Chester Creek surprise of your choice shipped directly to its recipient, ready to be unwrapped. July 2010 ISTE Drawing Winners!! 4th Place - LessonBoard + Seal Paul VI High School Fairfax, VA 3rd Place – LessonBoard + Seal + TinyMouse Mt. Harmony Elementary School Owings, MD 2nd Place – LessonBoard + Seal + TinyMouse + Headphones The University of Alabama Birmingham, AL Grand Price – 20 of each, LessonBoards + Seals + TinyMouse + Headphones Wemrock Brook School Manalapan, NJ |
