It's no secret that here at Ellison we love a good book but it's even better when we can take a story and bring it alive with lesson plans and dies. We put together a list of 5 books and coordinating dies that will help you easily turn story time into an interactive adventure.

Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Moon will jump off the pages with our Friendly Moon and Rabbit #2 Dies.This beloved children's book follows a rabbit who must say goodnight to everything they see before going to sleep, including the moon. Put together a popsicle stick puppet show and act out all the pieces of this story with your students like in this lesson plan to bring the characters alive.

The Cat In The Hat

If you have our Stovepipe Hat die and put it together with either the Surecut Cat or Bigz Cat dies you get one fun Cat In The Hat inspired combination! In this free lesson plan, we take the Stovepipe Hat and create a fun writing book. How great would it be to read the book to your class and then have them write a few sentences describing what they learned?

The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree is a lovely story about giving and kindness. As the story goes, the tree stays in the little boy's life giving him branches to swing from, apples to sell, wood to build a home, wood to build a ship and finally a stump on which to sit. With the Tree and Tiny Apple dies your students can make their own giving trees. Add characters by having your students use the Paper Pals #1 die set to create and dress their version of the boy in The Giving Tree or you can turn the Apple die into a book like in this lesson plan.

Harold and the Purple Crayon

This cute children's book is all about letting your imagination run wild. With the Baby Toddler, Crayon dies you can make your own Harold and his trusty purple crayon. If you have our Sailboat #2 die, you can use them to help your students follow Harold along on adventures as you read to them. We love the idea of taking it a step further by helping your students create a crayon notepad like we did in this lesson plan.

The Little Engine That Could

The Little Engine That Could is a great children's book about believing in yourself. Easily create a train world with our Train (4 die) set, Railroad Tracks die. You can use the die cuts to create a Beginning Sounds Train Border or have your students help create an entire bulletin board around this book. If you have our Traffic (4 die) set you can even teach your students all about traffic signals. Take a look at this lesson plan for more details.

Which was your favorite book & dies combo? Let us know in the comments below, we can't wait to read all about it! If you're going to be on social media and making all kinds of things like we are, be sure to hashtag your posts with #ellisonedu on Facebook and/or Instagram! If you aren't already, make sure that you're following us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter for behind the scenes, tips, tricks, tutorials, and so much more!