Memorization Tip ~ Sing a Song

Learning a list to a simple tune can really help you recall the information. In fact, just this last Saturday, I was talking to a ninth grader from my church. He was telling me that he had to learn the list of prepositions to a tune. That reminded me of when I was in Junior High. I had to learn the list of prepositions too. I had used the tune to "10 Little Indians". Immediately they all cam back, "Aboard, about, above, across, after, against, along, amid..." I could remember them easily because I had learned them to a tune. Help your children come up with little songs to learn things. It will stick with them for a long time.

Also, along the lines of learning through songs, Animaniacs was a popular cartoon when I was in upper elementary school. I bought some of their tapes. They turned out to be very educational. They are not in print anymore, but you can find them on Amazon. They have songs that help you learn your states and capitals, the water cycle, how to say hello in several languages, islands of the world, countries of the world (probably somewhat out of date now,) the planets and their order, your senses, the U.S. presidents (through Clinton,) and many more. I to this day sing parts of these songs in my head to remember some of the more obscure presidents or state capitals. Upon meeting someone from another country, I can remind myself of a greeting in their language from "The Hello Song". They are pretty good CDs. Along with the educational stuff there are also several fun songs on each album, and in Animaniacs tradition, they are very silly and kid appropriate.

Animaniacs
Yakko's World
Animaniacs Variety Pack

Memorization Tip ~ Acrostics

Try to learn things by making an acrostic. When you have to learn a list of things, try to make a word out of the first letters. Some times this can be difficult, and you may have to tweak the words a little bit to make it fit, but if you can come up with an acrostic, it will help kids remember the list a lot better come test time.

Timed Flashcards

Flashcards are a great way to help kids study. Here's an idea to take it one step farther: use Power Point to create a simple slide show of the flashcards. (Even if you have no experience with Power Point, you could put together a slide show quite easily.) The great thing about using Power Point is that you can time the child's response easily. You can set the slides to change every so many seconds, so that you know if the child answers in time. This would be a great tool for practicing any timed response. For example: math facts, sight words, vocabulary words, etc. Then, the child has until the slide changes to answer.

Memorization Tip ~ Rhyming Phrases

When you are memorizing information, creating a rhyming phrase can really help you remember something. I find myself thinking "30 days hath September, April, June, and November..." any time that I need to know if a month has 30 or 31 days. Another example is, "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Recalling this information is easy because I know a little rhyme to help me remember it. I have applied this to help me study for numerous tests (especially history with all of its facts and dates.) Maybe next time you help your child study for a test, you can come up with some sort of rhyming phrase to help him remember the information.

Memorization Tip ~ Make a Phrase

Helping your child memorize lists for a test? A great way to help your child remember is by making a sentence with the first letters of the items in the list. For example, we teach kids to remember the order of operations (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction) with the sentence: Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally. Similarly, you can use "my very excited mother just served us nine pizzas" to remember the order of the planets (if you count Pluto as a planet.) Usually, things that are memorized this way will stick in your brain much longer. Hopefully, it should at least get your child through his test.