Cutting 101

 

I am sure you spend a great amount of your time cutting.. just like I do. I always have a stack or a box that needs to be finished. I feel like I have perfected the “art of cutting” and I am super fast.

My niece was visiting a couple of weeks ago and I put her to work cutting. She lasted 20 minutes, she had a blister and she was S-L-O-W. I told her she needed more practice.. HA!  She quickly told me she was not about to practice cutting! {she’s 12 and obviously has WAY more important things to do!}

So here is my way of cutting..

First.. Do NOT cut before you laminate.

That just means you have to double cut everything!

Next is a VERY important step and there is not a single first grader that has gone through my class that does not do this. I preach this to my students..

Cut everything “apart” before you start cutting “out”.

This is also a step that I can do while I am laminating. While I am waiting on another piece of paper to go through my machine I cut the sheet that just finished apart into smaller pieces.

Next tip.. see those orange scissors above. See that brand?? They are not the most expensive BUT they are good quality scissors.

 YOU DON’T WANT TO USE THESE!!!!!!

I promise.

Good quality scissors are often “tight” and hurt your hand after you cut for awhile. I love good scissors and I have to have them them for certain projects.. but not to cut laminated items!

Trust me.. you need these..cheap scissors from the Dollar Tree. If I start cutting with a “good pair of scissors” I quit within minutes and get a “cheap pair of scissors”.

Next is a scrap bowl.

I sit crossed-legged in my chair with this bowl in my lap. All my scraps fall straight into the bowl and when I am done.. I can easily dump the bowl into the garbage for a super easy cleanup. No more picking up a million little pieces all over the floor!

This bowl is a wooden salad bowl I got as a wedding gift .. we have never eaten salad out of it but I use this gift almost daily!

 

Happy Cutting!

xoxo, Kacey

PS.. both of the items shown above can be found in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store

Animal Telling Time Activity

Bunting Word Sort

{shop} Doodle Bugs Teachers Pay Teachers Store