By Erin Parkinson.
Erin is married to Chris and together they homeschool their five young children in Auckland. Her two main passions are children’s literature and researching natural remedies. When she isn’t busy with nappies, washing, training, teaching or chasing the pet chickens off the neighbour’s property, you might find her day-dreaming of shifting the whole family to Europe – because a short trip just wouldn’t be enough!Mnemonics are a fun way to help you remember a variety of things and they are used in all kinds of subjects. Some, like the Columbus ditty and “Lefty-Loosy” are so simple and catching that your toddlers can learn it long before they understand what it means – but it will stick with them for the rest of their life. Hopefully you can find at least one listed below that helps you learn an otherwise difficult-to-remember fact. These are some of my favourites:
Columbus’ discovery of America
“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue”
Kings and Queens of England
Willy, Willy, Harry, Steve,
Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three;
One, two, three Neds, Richard Two,
Harries Four Five Six, then who?
Edwards Four Five, Dick the Bad,
Harries (twain) Ned Six (the lad);
Mary, Bessie, James ye ken,
Then Charlie, Charlie, James again
Will and Mary, Anna Gloria
Georges four, Will Fourth, Victoria
Edward Seven next, and then
Came George the Fifth in nineteen ten
Ned the Eighth soon abdicated
Then George the Sixth was coronated
After which Elizabeth
And that’s all folks until her death
Remembering the ill fated wives of Henry VIII:
Divorced, Beheaded, Died,
Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.
Unscrewing or Tightening Just About Anything:
“Lefty-loosy. Righty-tighty”
Spelling Rule
“I before E
Except after C
Or when sounded as ‘ay’
As in ‘neighbour’ and ‘weigh’.”
Directions of the Compass
Never Eat Soggy Weetbix
Which one is which? Stalactites and Stalagmites
Stalactites stick tight to stop from falling.
Longest Rivers in the World
NAM-MI YACH-Y
Nile (Africa) – 4,145 miles
Amazon (S.America) – 4,050 miles
Mississippi-Missouri (USA) – 3,760 miles
Irtysh (Russia) – 3,200 miles
Yangtse (China) – 3,100 miles
Amur (Asia) – 2,900 miles
Congo (Africa) – 2,718 miles
Huang-Ho (or Yellow) (China) – 2,700 miles
Scientific Classification
Keep Ponds Clean Or Frogs Get Sick
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
Periodic Table – first 11 elements
Harry He Likes Beer Bottled Cold Not Over Frothy
Hydrogen Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine
Order of the Planets
My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
How to spell “Mississippi”
M…I…SS…I…SS…I…PP…I
