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Flippers

Publisher: Christopher Lee Publications Review last updated: 2009

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This is another of those ingenious "why didn't I think of that!" ideas. A Flipper is a collection of 15 to 25 cards attached to a hard plastic, 6 1/2" x 11" base, arranged in overlapping fashion so that the topic of each card is visible. Fan the cards the opposite direction and see another set of topics on the reverse sides of the cards. Simply flip to the topic you need for explanation and examples. The plastic base of the elementary and high school level Flippers is three-hole punched so it can be stored in a binder. The 3 ½" x 5" cards are laminated for durability and are heat sealed to the base.

These are great for review, study, or drill depending upon the topic. Flippers appropriate for elementary grades and high school are available for math, language arts, science, social studies (e.g., learning the 50 states and their capitals), and selected foreign languages (Spanish, French, German, and Spanish/English ESL).

There are quite a few math Flippers for everything from beginning addition and subtraction through calculus. These cover terminology and concepts rather than drilling math facts. I suspect the math Flippers are more likely to be useful for learning terminology rather than concepts, yet they might serve as great test prep review tools.

A number of the language arts flippers might be very useful for homeschoolers. The phonics rules and spelling rules flippers might be a quick-reference aid for parents. The Sentence Skills, Punctuation and Capitalization, and English GrammarFlippers could be used as correction tools for student work. The parent spots an error in a student's work, but rather than simply correct it, the parent marks the number of the Flipper card that refers to this error. The student then checks the Flipper to determine what the error is and how to correct it. Flippers might be easier to use than a reference book for this purpose, but students would need access to the three Flippers I've mentioned to cover most errors aside from spelling. But, you could add the Spelling Rules Flipper to cover that area, too.

Science Flippers basically cover terminology for various areas including Biology, Physics, and Chemistry.

Children ages 3 to 6 might like the more colorful Flippers for learning ABC's, Numbers, Colors, Shapes, and Opposites. Rather than being punched for binders, these flippers have a cut-out "handle" at the top.

Christopher Lee also has First Aid (regular size and a small travel size) and Disaster Preparedness Flippers as well as a few household Flippers such as the one on Kitchen & Cooking Tips. They'll even create custom Flippers (1000 minimum) if you're interested. Maybe someone will get them to create a Latin Flipper!

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