Rhymes

Let those “talkers” talk! (Audio Learners)

Summer fun for Audio Learners!

If your child is an Audio Learner (link to Learning Styles), let me show you some creative ideas to stimulate his or her brain this summer and on into the school year.

First of all, Audio learners are usually talkers. The only way they remember things is by talking about it.  Believe it or not, they need to hear themselves say it aloud.  That’s why all those work sheets they do in silence, are like torture.  They might as well be talking to friends, they’d probably learn more!

Spelling is tough for audio learners since the English language is not that easy to spell when you hear it.  First get a list from the internet of the spelling words for the grade level  just completed.  You’re wondering “Why not get a list of next year’s words?”  Well, little Johnny may have passed all the weekly spelling tests by memory but promptly forgot soon after. Try  acronyms for those tricky words like “rhythm.”

Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move

Notice the first letter of each word spells out “rhythm”.  Try this acronym for “because”,

Big Elephants Can Always Upset Small Elephants

That talker of yours is going to love making up more acronyms!  The crazier they are, the easier it is to remember.

Try putting the spelling word to music or rhyme.  Remember this old one for “Mississippi?

Miss-iss-ipp-i

You’ll be amazed at what your kids can create by spelling a word to a song. And believe me, they won’t forget it.  That reminds me, look at the word “believe”. Did you know there’s a “lie” in it?  So don’t believe everything you see!

Reading can be tedious for Audio Learners if they have to read silently. Have them read aloud, using different voices for every character.  Oh, they’ll love it!  Let them perform before an audience of family and friends. Use sound effects and record it as a radio play.  Do you remember radio?? Or better yet, turn it into a Podcast!

Non-fiction books are perfect for Audio Learners.  After reading about a subject like fish or dogs, tell them to teach what they learned to another family member.  Grandma’s are always good listeners!

What about math, especially word problems? Make it a family affair.  Talk about the problem and let your audio learner discover what makes sense.  Often, just by talking it out they understand.

Make up rhymes for difficult math words.  Maybe they can’t remember what the  word “quotient” means.

Quotient, “kwo-shunt”
What a funny word,
The answer to division
Isn’t that absurd?

Maybe they’re still counting on their fingers instead of memorizing add/subtract facts, or maybe they haven’t mastered multiplication/division yet.  You might want to check out the systems I developed.

Celebrate your Audio Learner!  Sure they talk a lot and on and on….but what fun you can have with them and you always know what they’re thinking about!

All Memory Joggers products come with an unconditional 30-day money back guarantee.

November 15, 2009   No Comments

More Math Memory Magic

When I was teaching third grade, I noticed children missing a word problem because they couldn’t remember if the word “sum” was an adding word or subtracting word. I could tell them a million times but nothing helped until I made up this  little rhyme, they could easily remember!

“Sum” apples are green
“Sum” apples are red
“Sum” is the answer
When you add in your head!

After learning the rhyme I told them the word spelled “sum” in the rhyme was incorrect. It should have been “some”.  The kids loved writing sentences using both “some” and “sum”.
Some add to get the sum!

Word problems have a lot of confusing words, like sum, difference, altogether, total, in all, less than, etc. I remember  being asked, “Mrs. Yates, is “difference” an adding word or subtracting word?”  Again a short little rhyme to the rescue.
Difference, difference
What can it be?
The subtraction answer
Don’t you see?

It’s hard for kids to remember a lot of the math words. We need to give them memory tips to help them remember.  Just turn on the creative juices and come up with your own little pictures and rhymes to help your kids remember.

All Memory Joggers products come with an unconditional 30-day money back guarantee.

August 27, 2009   No Comments

Welcome to my Blog about Memory Tips

Hi!

If you want to learn about all kinds of memory tips to help students succeed, you’re in the right place!  As a teacher in the elementary grades, I’ve always been fascinated with how the brain remembers things. I’m retired now, so I have more time to devote to my obsession!

When my own children were small, I made up this crazy word association method with pictures for remembering all the states and capitals.  To this day, they still remember that the capital of Pennsylvania is Harrisburg because there’s this hairy bug in a pen!

While I was teaching, I was aware that my third grade students needed help in memorizing multiplication and division facts.  I came up with a memory system using pictures, stories and rhyming words that worked like a charm!  Soon I was sharing it with other teachers and Memory Joggers was born!  My brain is still busily coming up with memory tips that I want to share with you.  Share your tips with me too, O.K.?

Anxious to hear from you,

Donnalyn

All Memory Joggers products come with an unconditional 30-day money back guarantee.

May 1, 2009   No Comments