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Easy and Creative Die Cut Common Core Projects for Teachers

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You guys know my love affair for our Ellison Education AllStar die cut machine not only because is it incredibly affordable (under $100) but also because it’s SO easy and handy to tote around. Recently Ellison Education shared with me their Common Core aligned dies and offered me the chance to create some projects with them!

They also have a page of free lessons to go with them and spark some new ideas! Our machine lives at the school and the teachers are so excited when we get new dies to use! The first day I brought the new dies over to the school I ended up staying there the entire day! As soon as the teachers saw new dies they were begging me to create some stuff for them!

how to die cut Collage

If you’re not familiar with the AllStar die-cut machine it’s VERY simple to use! Just choose your die, place it and the desired paper between the cutting pads, place it onto the machine, and use the handle to roll the die right through! Your new die shape is cut and ready to use for a project!

One of the dies I requested was this rectangle envelope die – so simple but you can do a zillion projects with it! It cuts with perforations so you know exactly where to fold the envelope which you can then use a glue stick or tape to hold together. Since I knew these little envelopes would get a LOT of use in the classroom I used tape to help hold the sides together. I also taped the crease for the flap and around the bottom.

contraction envelopes

The first project I used this envelope die cut for was a Contractions Envelope project! I took our 3rd/4th grade contraction words for the week, created envelopes for each one, and wrote one “non” contraction word for each envelope. Then using the scrap paper I had leftover from my projects I wrote the corresponding contraction word on each small piece of paper. All of it was placed into a ziploc bag and handed to the student to complete at night for homework. She needed to place each contraction into the corresponding envelope. It was a perfect project that could be saved for later, and you could even laminate it to keep for future use!

Here are a few other “envelope” ideas that this would be great for:

Prefix / Suffix word matching
Calendar Countdown / Advent Calendar / 100 Days of School
Math facts (even/odds, add, subtract, multiply, divide, fractions, etc)
Counting (label with number and have that many bugs/hearts/shapes to place inside)
Scavenger Hunts

classroom clock schedule

The next project I’ve been working on is using the Clock Face & Hands die cut!! I was SUPER excited about this because there are SO many uses for these clocks!! I made a school “schedule” for the principal’s door reusing scrap paper from the dies to write on!

Ellison Education Die Cut Project

These clocks I made using scrapbooking paper for one of our teachers. We had a huge fundraiser dinner over the weekend and we used these clocks to write the names on for place settings at the table! What a creative idea! And of course to make sure they last longer you can certainly laminate them too!

Here are a few ideas with our clocks that we will be using for projects:

bilingual number learning (Latin, Spanish, French, etc)
world time zones
learning time
time lapse

heart die cut card Collage

Next my husband chose the Heart Gatefold Card die cut for his teachers. (there are also star, flower, and apple designs available!) Since this is a longer die regular construction paper is too short so you’ll definitely need scrapbook paper, fingerpaint paper, or some other long paper to cut this out! Of course I got roped into making a bunch of these the first day I brought them over to the school! These of course are great for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day or Grandparent’s Day but can be used for a LOT of other projects that go beyond just your typical holidays.

The first project I used these for was to cut out one for every sponsor at our school during our fundraiser. Then the students wrote little thank you notes which they pasted inside of these heart cards to present to them. Don’t forget that you can add glitter, ribbon, tissue paper, or any other embellishments on these for the students to create!

Here are a few other project ideas (aside from holidays) that you can use these for:

Science / Circulatory System (label heart and include facts inside)
Thanksgiving/kindness/gratitude projects
pen pals / letter writing

The last project I worked on (but forgot final pictures of!) was these AWESOME Tag dies!!! It’s actually one die that cuts both a rectangle(ish) and rounded tag shape, complete with hole cut out for a ribbon or elastic. Right away one of the teachers had me cut out enough of these for their fundraiser dinner to use as name tags for the place settings but these are so versatile you can use them for just about any project! You can:

tie them onto gifts
use them for
 word walls
Math Facts
Mini flashcards on a ring (laminate them first!)
attaching compound words together
Label just about anything (storage containers, bulletin boards, etc)

Purchase Die Cut Supplies here!

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122 Comments

  1. I enjoy making cards for each of the kids in my class. Well that was the last thing I made. In till my next project. Than that is what I like. 🙂

    1. Elisabeth says:

      My students enjoy cutting out their own shapes to use as covers for their journals.

  2. I want an Envelope die 🙂

  3. One simple die cut project I did was to make letters for the words “vertical” and “horizontal” and place them on my classroom door (horizontal along the top of the door and vertical going down one side). Many of the students (4th grade!) were having difficulty differentiating between the two terms, but the frequent reminder has helped them.

  4. I simply love everything Ellison!!!

  5. These are some great ideas for using the various dies. I love the fold out cards.

  6. I really like the heart gatefold heart

  7. Selina Kane says:

    I really like the examples of what you can do with the envelopes. Seems the possibilities are endless with these due cuts. Can’t wait to try them in my classroom.

  8. This machine looks and sounds fantastic. I love the fact that is so easy to take with you. I am adding this product to my wish list NOW!

  9. I enjoyed using the Ellison when I was doing my student teaching. I could make simple things such as capital and lowercase match up more fun by making them on train cut outs or something else fun 🙂

  10. Not sure which one I love. I’m a brand new teacher!

  11. I love all of the bookmark die cuts! Cute!

  12. Brittany Winnie says:

    I’d love the envelope maker! We sort our spelling words all week and it would be great to have 🙂

  13. Jamie Owen says:

    This would be awesome!

  14. Love all the different things you can make!

  15. Would love one of these for my daycare center!

  16. Shanae Peterson says:

    I love the Gatefold Card die cuts! What a great way to make cute-looking cards. 🙂

  17. I use the letter dies to practice building words with my students.

  18. I like the puzzle piece dies

  19. Michelle Willis says:

    I love the clock die cut.

  20. Enjoy looking at all the things this machine can make. Would love to have one of my own!

  21. Terr Taylor says:

    This would be a great addition for me and my friend (I have to share). I love the envelopes and the tags

  22. Joanne M. says:

    I like the large ribbon. Great for celebrating so many causes.

  23. I’m a sub so I haven’t done any projects of my own lately. I did help with a good string art Christmas project that also used math.

  24. I would love the folded heart dies. They would work great in lap books for any subject, especially adding chapter summaries or important facts from an informational text.

  25. Shelley Hawkins says:

    These look like fun!

  26. Shelley Hawkins says:

    This looks like fun!

  27. Suzanne Nelson says:

    These would be fantastic in writing centers with the envelopes!

  28. Dawn Walbeck says:

    Floating animals seems to be my favorite.

  29. Sonya Loggins says:

    Always looking for way to enhance the Common Core.

  30. Dawn Walbeck says:

    I made homemade cards with my students for Christmas.

  31. I like any of the frames that have multi sizes. I could see them working with size/comparison concepts…….big, bigger, biggest etc.

  32. A project I did with my class that I was proud of includes the time unit we did in Spanish. I went to the university nearby (40 minutes) and used their die-cut machine to make clocks for each student. I could then drill them with the time, they could quiz each other, and we could practice as a class.

  33. I LOVE the caption boxes – “Sizzix Bigz Die – Caption Boxes #2 “!!! Those would be so fun for students (and me!) to fill in for bulletin boards. Could also use to complete cartoons, begin creative writing, and so much more!

  34. I would love love love to win one for my classroom, I teach children with Autism and this is totally something they could help with!

  35. Christina P says:

    I work with kindergarteners because we have a half day kindergarten, so I pull the children out to do fun activities since they don’t get to go to music, art or gym. The school has a really old Ellison with really old dies, which they keep in the faculty room on the other side of the building. It would be great to win this because there are a lot of cute activities that I could do with them using more recent dies. I would love to use the tag die and the envelope die to create picture sorts for some of the books we read in my class. I would love to win.

  36. Love die cuts! Use them for not only bulletin boards but also for my notebooking in the classroom.

  37. Donna Beauchamp Allsworth says:

    Love using die cutting machines. This would be great to win.

  38. Donna Beauchamp Allsworth says:

    Love die cutting machines. This would be great to win!!!!

  39. I loved the clocks! There is so many endless possibilities to use this in an art room!!

  40. So many choices! I love the mustache but would use the envelopes all the time!

  41. Heidi Herbert says:

    Love anything that makes teaching more creative and individualistic, makes learning more personalized.

  42. k Engstrom says:

    I love to use anything Ellison!! Helps my students to learn by using creativity with the Ellison!

  43. Love the lotus flower and star die cuts!!! I just love everything Ellison!! teach in an urban school district and would love an Ellison machine and die cuts!!!

  44. Ellen Quinones says:

    the floating animals die cuts are adorable! My daughter just got done learning about ocean life at school last week!

  45. I have to go to the local library to get my dicuts. It would be wonderful to have one on-site!!

  46. I bet my special ed students would love this along with the teachers of course!!

  47. I think this is an amazing giveaway! As a new teacher/librarian in a high poverty 3-5 school, I don’t have much, so these would come in handy for Maker Space activities and for creating special things for my teachers and students to use. CCSS stuff is definitely needed!

  48. I love Ellison Cuts!! They are perfect for bulletin board decorations as well as flashcards! Domino’s are great for my preschoolers!

  49. I would love to have one of these. I can just imagine all I could do with one.

  50. We read a story about a school mural. So, we created a class-wide mural.

  51. Love the floating animals. My room is ocean themed!!!!!!

  52. Ashlynn Frith says:

    I would love this!!! I work at a newer school and we don’t have a die cut machine. I definitely know it will get passed from classroom to classroom!

  53. Larissa Kenyon says:

    We don’t have a diecut machine in our building. But I would love to try out the envelopes!

  54. I’m a new teacher’s assistant and this would be great to use with all of the teachers I help!

  55. I have to have the 3D Geometric shapes! My first graders just did a unit on geometry and we had to make our own! Let’s just say they were…..creative! 😉

  56. I would love to win to use for math journals!

  57. Nicole H. says:

    This is great! Would love to win!!

  58. I would love to have this for our high school. We don’t have any dies or die cut machine.

  59. Anything new and interesting to better children’s imagination ….. I’m all for it!

  60. Holy cow! So many amazing things to make and do with these guys! Would love one, just to make a bunch of envelopes!

  61. Katherine says:

    The possibilities are endless with die cuts. I would use the envelopes in my interactive math notebook to sort polygons, odd and even numbers, math word problem key words, etc. I would also use the clock for a partner quiz trade activity. I would have each student make a clock at a desired time. Then walk around and quiz a partner. They would need to name the time of the other clock then this would continue for about 10 minutes and help greatly with time telling practice 🙂

  62. Tracy Blunier says:

    The envelope die cut is great for the cross-curricular needs of a librarian. I teach writing skills in the library, and this would be a fun and creative way to do that!

  63. Melissa Nance says:

    I love Ellison presses! And these ideas are awesome! Would love to win and put them to good use… 😉

  64. Jennifer Jean says:

    I love this one. Ellison SureCut Die Set – Music (7 Die Set) – Large

    Of course….

  65. Elisabeth says:

    They are great to use to make scrapbook pages of pictures of classroom activities with your class all school year.

  66. I LOVE using die cuts to teach lessons. I use them to decorate my room, teach shapes, make bulletin boards, and tags when the students do projects. to get this would be awesome!

  67. At our Pre-K center, we don’t have any type of Ellison. So this would be great for our work room.

  68. I enjoy making and giving a little something, be it to another staff member, a student, parent or someone who has done something that I want to say thank you to. I think the Polka Dot Gift Bag die would be perfect. http://www.ellisoneducation.com/idea/1264/polka-dot-gift-bag
    Thank you for this wonderful giveaway.

  69. I did great educational project on Dental Health, which is very important to teach about!! 🙂

  70. Sheila Atwell says:

    Would love to have this addition for our teachers to use.

  71. Terica Schaumloeffel says:

    I would love to use this in my classroom. Lots of fun projects to be made and would save me lots of time and money!!!

  72. Heather W says:

    This would be great for me as I am a new teacher! ! =)

  73. I need those geometric shape patterns! Those would have helped so much during my geometry unit last month!

  74. As a math teacher, I would love to have the greek alphabet set so that I can punch out all of the lovely symbols that my students are encountering in math right now! Mmmm pi!!

  75. I love the envelopes! They have so many different uses in the classroom. I’d love a machine that I could call my own.

  76. I teach kindergarten and we live yo make crafts with letters to learn the formation and sounds the letter makes!

  77. I love the puzzle die, would be great for sentence building, compound words, patterning, etc., etc., etc.

  78. Merry Berry says:

    I have yet to find a die cut that I couldn’t use in my class!

  79. Love the common core set and letters. We don’t have a diecut machine at school so it would be nice as we change all bulletin boards in the school at least monthly or once they are ripped down

  80. Carie Ramirez says:

    Thank you so much for this opportunity to possibly win such an amazing prize!! I would be thrilled to have my own Ellison in my classroom!!

  81. Stephanie Tew says:

    I’m a new teacher and I have only used the die cut machines we have at school to create bulletin boards and hall displays…I would be super excited if I was chosen to win this product!

  82. Denise Menchaca says:

    I would LOVE to have the rectangle envelope die cut!! There are a million things you could do with it… I love the Ellison machine and we are a new school and don’t have any die cuts except the letters…. so sad…. we need some lively die cuts to liven up our classrooms!!!

  83. I want one of these so bad! I teach Kindergarten and I could do so many projects with it!

  84. Linda C. Bobst says:

    Mustache Mania would be the Ellison Die I would love to have. I could see my kiddos using these and taking pictures with them showing off their mustaches.

    I love your site. I have gotten to many great ideas from you!!!

  85. Ria Wolff says:

    What a great tool to have as a teacher!

  86. Ria Wolff says:

    I teach in a small school with limited resources. This would be a great help, and a lot of fun to have!

  87. I love that this is portable so I can do cutouts for my own kids at home, too. I’d love to have the envelope die if I move into a kindergarten classroom next year.

  88. Oh my! We don’t have a dye cut machine at Orca! This would be so helpful for all of our teachers (and wallets!)

  89. Ready to start many new projects. I enjoy reinforcing our curriculum through art.

  90. Elvira Viramontes says:

    I enjoy DIY greeting cards. This machine would be a dream!

  91. Would be handy making foldables.

  92. Jennifer Maier says:

    I would LOVE this to share with my fellow colleagues.

  93. Great Ideas for Ellison Machine use!

  94. My students are so crafty! We have done lots of foldables and crafts this year! I’d love to have die cuts for them to use!

  95. The Ellison Community Helper Name Badges die would be so much fun to use when teaching about community helpers! So cute!

  96. kim fenner says:

    My grand daughter would love this.

  97. Helen Wagner says:

    We made A Reach for the Stars bulletin with Ellison Diecuts!

  98. Helen Wagner says:

    Oooooooh! I would love to have this!

  99. I have a student showcase bulletin board with a section for each student. They pick the project(s) they like to display and I can add the standards the projects meet or other items around them. The families love it.

  100. I love the skeleton one, my kiddos would get a kick out of building skeletons – accurate or not!

  101. I would love this!! The envelope one would go great with my Flat Stanley unit!!

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