My niece is presently student teaching and will graduate at the end of this fall term. As a 33 year veteran of elementary education myself, I am considering giving her the graduation gift of a Cricut Expression Die Cutting Machine. I think it would come in handy with bulletin boards and a lot of other projects in elementary school. I am trying to find any teachers who use this machine for their classroom. I would like to find out which of the Cricut cartridges are the most appropriate for use by teachers. The cartridges are expensive, so I need some advice and directions as to make wise choices. Thanks.
We have 5 Cricuts at school for teachers to use and I personally own both the E and Create. I love it! Also, look for Black Friday ads for the cartridges -- last year Ms had them for something like $29.99 each. Also they are on sale all the time at either J, Ms or HL for 39.00. I make word books for my students and lots of other things. They are so much fine. My students also use my C for their projects. BTW, I'm in middle school.
I have the smaller cricut and I do occassionally use it for things but since things aren't cut out very big I don't use it much just for scrapbooking. I am getting the E very soon. On the cricut website http://www.cricut.com/education/ they have a special just for educators going on. You purchase 10 cartridges (already preselected but I'm sure definately good for the classroom) for $399 and get the machine free. I hear the machine also comes with 2 more cartridges in its box so you are really getting 12 plus the machine. Its a lot of money to spend but so worth it if you can afford it. Plus they will let you do 3 monthly payments of $133 or something like that. I'm planning on ordering one this coming week...I hope lol.
I have the Expression. I am at the high school level so I mostly use letters for titles on my walls- but I have used a few pictures from random cartridges (I scrapbook as well so I have many cartridges).
It sounds like a nice gift, but I'll give you my honest opinion. A gift card to a teacher store will come in handy MUCH more than a die-cut machine for a first year teacher. Your first year is all about survival...bulletin boards did not fit that category for me edit: I read-read your post and saw you're a teacher, too. Didn't mean to insult your intelligence!
I just looked into it and it looks awesome... I have so many ideas from just browsing that I might just have to purchase it to use in my 3rd grade classroom!!!
I think it's a very thoughtful and sincere gift she will appreciate. There is a Classmates series of cartridges which is particularly nice for teachers so I would look into that. Pisces, I totally understand where you are coming from, but at the same time that's the great thing about such nice gifts--the niece probably wouldn't spend her money on such a "luxury" item her first year, but now she'll have this awesome tool to help prepare her room (which is very important to me even at the middle school level, but probably even more so in the elementary room) and for projects years into the future.
I want to add I think this is a fabulous gift. I'm at a middle school and all teachers are required to change out hallway bulletin boards every three weeks. That doesn't even include the ones in your room.
I love mine. I'm at high school algebra & geometry and use it to put up all kids of signs, symbols, and shapes in my classroom.
I think it would be a great gift! It will save her tons of money! My friend, who was a 1st year teacher last year, made all of her calendar numbers and tons of bulletin board items with her parents' cricut. It would be so nice to have!
I am a little late on this post but I bought a cricut saturday. I found one at wal mart for $150. I have only had it for a few days but I have already done 2 bulletin boards, flashcards and a few other things. My boss was really impressed. I know it will come in very handy in my prek class and it's also a lot cheaper than an Ellison Die Cut. It also will pay for itself very soon. Like I said I have only had it for a few days but the possibilities for this machine are endless. I can't wait to see what all it can do. I really wish I had an aunt as great as you! I know she will love this and it will be an awesome gift that she will use over and over. It's a great idea!!
My husband is a first year teacher and we have spent hundreds of dollars at the local teacher store for his classroom. If it were me I would rather have the gift card since there is a die cutter at school & since a package of die cuts only runs about a dollar. However premade bulletin boards are about 20 bucks a piece. Can you use the die cutter to make calendar bulletin boards & things like that? My husband is so crazy busy that we haven't had a chance to change his bulletin boards this year at all. Maybe...this would be a good present for the END of the first year if she decides to still be a teacher & makes it through alive (haha). Just a thought!
I've had a Cricut for several years now. The Cricut can make anything! She will need extra cartridges though. You can get them pretty cheap on ebay.
I bought it my first year teaching. I have the small one (whatever the name is). My first year I used it a lot! I even had my kids use it & they loved it. My second year I used it but mostly at the beginning. I had a very hard year so didn't have a whole lot of time. It does come in handy for small projects. I use it for bb & my alphabet for the word wall. I plan to try to use it more this year. Some of the cartridges I purchased have been the school theme, rainforest, garden, holiday.
It is such a time saver too! Our die-cutter at school is the wooden blocks....takes FOREVER and they are only one size. With the Cricut I was able to make HUGE bulletin boards.
The 12 inch cutter, the Expression, will give you the most bang for your buck. Great for the bulletin boards. cricut.com has a message board that shows what some teachers have done with their cricuts.
