Pity the humble flash card. It gets no respect. Kids want to use fancy computer programs. Teachers want to use cutting-edge strategies and technology. Parents want to believe there's something better than what they used when they were in school. But for repetition, reinforcement, and total recall, nothing beats those two-sided slips of paper. Not convinced? Consider these Top 10 Reasons to Try Flash Cards.
1. They give lots of bang for the buck.
Dollar for dollar and penny for penny, flash cards are an unbeatable educational value. The pre-printed kind you can pick up practically anywhere are economical enough, but writing your own on index cards works just as well. If you're really cheap, tear the index cards in half and make twice as many, or print a batch on a piece of paper and cut them into little rectangles.2. They're customizable.
If you're making your own flash cards, you can tailor them to exactly what your child is learning at any particular time. Turn the vocabulary lists in your child's textbook into flash cards, or use only the math concepts or numbers your child struggles with. Then save used cards for review at midterm and final exam time.3. They're personalizable.
Every kid has strategies that work better for them than others. Your child may respond to rhythms, or acronyms, or rhyming clues, or clues that use visual cues. Tailor his or her flash cards to the strategies that will do the most to increase recall on tests or in the classroom.4. They're portable.
No need to be tied to computers or books to use these study tools. Toss a set in your purse, pocket or glove compartment, and use them for quick drills while killing time in restaurants, movie theaters, drive-through lines and doctors' waiting rooms.5. They reinforce writing skills, too.
That is, if you make your child craft his or her own flash cards. Writing on those small cards will give good penmanship practice, and writing words also helps kids memorize them.6. They make their own routine.
Set some time aside every night as flash-card time. Maybe seven minutes at the dinner table when eating's over, or whenever your child is most likely to be stationary and alert. Mark down how many cards were done in that time each session, and challenge your child to do a little bit more the next time.7. They're fun.
Disguise work time as play time by making up flash-card games. If you have two kids, have flash card competitions -- either using the same set of cards, or with each child using their own. It can be a simple point-and-answer contest, or you can blow it up into a Jeopardy-style game-show guess-off.8. They make you a good teacher.
It's hard sometimes to know how to help our children with homework -- or to help without helping too much. Flash cards are perfect for parent involvement. You have a clear role, in holding the cards and confirming the answers, and can run with it by being animated in your clue delivery, enthusiastic in celebrating answers, and conscientious in scheduling card-time.9. They help you learn with your child.
If your child has advanced to that level of learning at which you no longer quite understand what the heck he or she is doing, ask a teacher, aide, or inclusion teacher to provide the flash cards, or at least a fact sheet you can use to make them. In writing and quizzing, you too shall learn -- in a way you'd never do if you just parked your kid in front of a computer.10. They work.
Whether your child's a memory whiz or requires constant, constant, constant repetition and reinforcement, flash cards will increase comfort and familiarity with the material and make it much more likely that your child will recognize it when it appears in homework, classwork and tests. Sometimes, low-tech rules.More ways to make this the best school year ever
