Mnemonics

mnemonics

Mnemonics are devices to help us remember ( memory aide). They come in many varieties and flavors, and can aid memorization of many types of information.

Mnemosyne (in mythology) was 

a titan (a giant who was sort of like a goddess)

who was the personification of memory.

[nee-mos-uh-nee, -moz-] 

Here are some examples of Mnemonics.

Rhymes:

"In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."

"I before E, except after C, or when sounds like A, as in neighbor or weigh."

Five Freedoms in the First Amendment

"Speakin' of freedoms, oh what could they be

Freedom of Religion and Assembly,

Freedom of Petition and Freedom of Press,

Freedom of Speech, now don't distress."

Mneumonic -- A Rough Poem about Lewis and Clark

Acronyms:

Mnemonic: DUDE

Lewis and Clark -- Acronymic

Acronyms: BICUM  = 

Acronyms: NASA  = 

National Aeronautics Space Administration

Acronyms: SCUBA  = 

Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

Acronyms: HOMES = 

The Five Great Lakes = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior

Acronyms: FACE = 

The space notes in the treble clef = F, A, C, E

Acronyms: ROY G. BIV = 

The colors of the rainbow = 

Acronyms: SKILL = 

Organs in the excretory system = skin, kidneys, intestines, liver, lungs 

Acrostics: 

The categories in the classification of life are Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family,Genus, Species, Variety = Kings Play Cards On Fairly Good Soft Velvet.

Every Good Boy Does Fine = 

lines of the treble clef

Acrostics:  Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally = 

order of operations















"Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, and Addition and Subtraction".

My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas =

 = the Planets in Our Solar System

Other Types of Mnemonics

Songs:  Did you use a song to learn the counties of Utah?

Peg System:   Peg System for Memorization

Peg System for Memorizing The Bill of Rights for extra credit

Loci System: Select a place you know well   

http://remembereverything.org/memory-palace-the-method-of-loci/

Try using the Loci system to memorize the first ten Presidents of the United States.

President	Party	Term as President	Vice-President
1. George Washington (1732-1799)	None, Federalist	1789-1797	John Adams
2. John Adams (1735-1826)	Federalist	1797-1801	Thomas Jefferson
3. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)	Democratic-Republican	1801-1809	Aaron Burr, George Clinton
4. James Madison (1751-1836)	Democratic-Republican	1809-1817	George Clinton, Elbridge Gerry
5. James Monroe (1758-1831)	Democratic-Republican	1817-1825	Daniel Tompkins
6. John Quincy Adams (1767-1848)	Democratic-Republican	1825-1829	John Calhoun
7. Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)	Democrat	1829-1837	John Calhoun, Martin van Buren
8. Martin van Buren (1782-1862)	Democrat	1837-1841	Richard Johnson
9. William H. Harrison (1773-1841)	Whig	1841	John Tyler
10. John Tyler (1790-1862)

Select a place that you know well, and as you move through it in your mind, place the items you are learning, or a representation of each, in specific places.  

For instance, for learning the first few Presidents of the United States,  imagine walking into your house. 

For me, as I walk in through the side door, 

1)  I first see my kitchen, and there is George Washington washing my dishes.  

2) I walk into the front hall, and there is  a man with a large Adam's apple --John Adams.  

3) I turn into the living room, and there is Thomas Jefferson, inventing and drawing plans for a building (he was an inventor and architect).  

4) As I walk up the stairs, on the stairs I see a bunch of boxes of Dolly Madison cakes.   (James Madison was he next president.) 

5)  Then I look into the bedroom, and there on the bed is Marilyn Monroe.  (James Monroe is the fifth president.

6)  In bathroom is a man rinsing off is hands in the sink.  (Rinsey rhymes with Quincy) who asks me, "Did you see my dad in the hall downstairs?"   This is the son of John Adams -- John Quincy Adams.

7. In the next bedroom, there is the Jackson Five, singing “I’ll Be There.”
8. In the third bedroom I see a bureau (chest of drawers), with Martin Van Buren filling the drawers with his Doc Martens.

9.  As I walk back downstairs, and on down the next set of stairs, there in the family room is my son, repairing my computer  (which is what he often does), but today he is a "hairy son."  He has let his hair grow out, and his beard grow long.  (William H. Harrison)

10.  In the laundry room, my daughter is tying clothes together for John Tyler.  

And that's the first ten presidents. 

Mini-Stories:

Picture Links: You could use this for vocabulary

Creating Mind-Maps can help you to understand and remember.

Examples:  

Here are some examples of Mind Maps for other subjects: