Due Date- Wednesday, April 20- "Nifty Mnemonics." What's a mnemonic? (new maw nik) It's a memory device such as initials, sayings or rhymes that we use as an aid in remembering. For example, "30 days hath September..." or "Sping forward, Fall back" or HOMES for remembering the names of the Great Lakes. Whenever I try to screw or unscrew something, I remember "righty tighty, lefty loosey." As a teacher, I use mnemonic devices all the time to help teach my students. So now that we're no longer desperate housewives and we're drop dead gorgeous, let's help one another get brilliant! Share some of your own little tricks for remembering things.

~ Spelling ~

Some of my favorite mnemonics are ones that I use to teach kids the correct spelling of words. Here's just a few:

*A common mistake is to mix up dessert (sweet food after a meal) with desert (a dry, sandy area.) I tell them to remember dessert has two s's in it for "strawberry shortcake."

*What about principal (head of a school) vs. principle (rule or standard?) Remember that principal (school head) is your "pal!"

*How to spell RHYTHM:
Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move

* I before E except after C
And when saying "A" as in Neighbor or Weigh
And weird is weird.

*Contractions: I always tell my students to imagine the apostrophe as a big foot coming in to "kick out" the letters that are being omitted in the contraction. For example, you're is the contraction for you are. The apostrophe goes where the letter "a" is being kicked out. Sometimes the really big foot kicks out more than one letter. For example, the contraction for you have is "you've" so the apostrophe is kicking out the "h and a." (Always taught with big kicking motions!)

~ Astronomy & Science ~

To remember the colors and order of the rainbow: Roy G. Biv- Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet

To remember the order of the planets beginning the closest to the sun: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.

To remember order of directions (clockwise): Never Eat Shredded Wheat

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Report card from CLM