For many teachers, the Cricut Expression die cut machine tops their back-to-school classroom tool wish list. This die cutting machine from manufacturer Provo Craft, often used by scrapbookers and other crafters, has many additional features and accessories, including the Classmate line of educational cartridges, that will not only make teaching easier, but will also make teaching easier over time. it also saves schools money.
The most obvious example is the classroom bulletin board. In the past, teachers had to buy expensive dies to decorate their classroom bulletin board, or they had to painstakingly cut out letters and pictures by hand to create a display that would catch the attention and interest of their students. The Cricut Expression has the ability to cut letters and other shapes in a variety of sizes, from a quarter inch to nearly 24 inches in size. With this tool, educators can create an attractive bulletin board with nothing more than a small stack of construction paper or other colored paper.
Although the Expression is ideal for cutting basic letters and shapes, Provo Craft specifically targets those in the field of education with its line of Classmate cartridges, which are designed for use in the classroom. This line of Cricut cartridges for early childhood educators and elementary school teachers can be used to teach various subjects, including language arts, phonics, social studies, and even cursive.
Using the 50-state cartridge, for example, teachers can create a snippet of each state. In addition to being used for displays, students can assemble these dies to form a puzzle of the United States, making it a useful tool for geography and social studies lessons.
Also part of the Classmate line, the Word Builders series of cartridges are designed to help elementary students with their language, phonetic and spelling skills. With Word Builders cartridges, educators can make letter cutouts and letter clusters in the form of puzzles. These dies, when students put them together in the correct combinations, form words.
These are just a few of the many ways these types of die cuts can be used directly to instruct students. Whether it’s doing puzzles or creating your own educational version of popular children’s games like “Go Fishing,” or even making markers and stickers to reward students for their work, teachers can use the Cricut expression in countless ways on the classroom.