F = Flipping Out for Flipbooks #GETABC

F is for Flipping

Out for

Flipbooks

(Taking you back to Part 2 of 2 in the GTG #Green #Edu #Tech Series)

Flipbooks are fun, no matter what kind you make.  We've all done the finger-flipping cartoon books by stapling papers together to make an animated cartoon.  In the classroom, stapling graduated sizes of paper together also makes for a fantastic way to illustrate a subject.  Here are 3 different electronic flipbooks that can bring an added dimension into your teacher tool box for any topic at hand.

1.  Benettonplay! Flipbook Deluxe. Whether you want to make or find a flipbook, this is a fun online find for digitally-animated flipbooks.  You could use it as a teacher to illustrate vocabulary, animate historical events, or detail concepts.  (I could especially see this as vital on an environmental front by using it to showcase the Food Web or the Water Cycle/Storm Water Management.  Older students also could use it themselves.  To see an excellent example of all the Flipbook Deluxe can be, check out "Sharon Takes eLearning and Digital Culture" and "Amazing and Elaborate Multiple Intelligences."
  
2.  Read! Write! Think! Flipbooks
Create tabbed flipbooks from 2-10 pages long.  It works as a wonderful canvas for for teachers and students alike for taking notes, making fact books or visual dictionaries, or sharing curricular concepts.  With 9 different layouts, there's a lot of flexibility in this creative site.  There are also a slew of pre-made lessons which are listed by grade level in tabs.  Included on the website are a few ready-made flipbook lessons that would be perfect for eco-friendly themes (not to mention, a whole lot of other goodies).  Check out How Does My Garden Grow? Writing in Science Field Journals and Creative Writing in the Natural World: A Framing

3.  Flipbook for iPad & iPhone
According to iTunes, FlipBook and FlipBook Lite are the #1 iPhone animation app.  Just as with the Benettonplay! FlipBook, you can animate up concepts, putting a visusal flair on whatever you are learning, but with your mobile iDevice.  Likewise, you can search their gallery for anything any user has created.  Video tutorials are on their site so you can get your movie just right.

With all of these three sites, the eco-implications and applications are far reaching.  You can use them to illustrate environmental education concepts such as the 3 R's, discuss endangered animals (perhaps even using facts from ARKive), or use it as a visual dictionary for terminology such as "sustainability," "conservation," "climate change," and more.

As with most things, once you have the tools, the sky is the limit!

Letter F pic from http://www.freefoto.com, general flipbook photo from http://www.beth.typepad.com, and all site-specific images from above-mentioned sites.

Note: In an attempt to meld my pursuits of Green, Education, and Technology, "GET" and this ABC series began...as did my twitter thread #GETABC. To see the inception of #GETABC and give yourself a tidbit of background, go to http://greenteamgazette.blogspot.com/2011/07/true-confessions-whirling-dervishes.html