Mnemonic Devices and Learning Chants

Geography

I Am A Person

The 4 Oceans (Indian, Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific) 

Courtesy of this site 

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HOMES

Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior : the Great Lakes in North America.

Science

Taxonomic Order Song — To the tune of “Yankee Doodle”

Kingdom, phylum, class, and order

Family, genus, species. (Repeat 4x)

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Order of geological time periods:
(Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Recent)

Cows Often Sit Down Carefully. Perhaps Their Joints Creak?
Persistent Early Oiling Might Prevent Painful Rheumatism.

 Courtesy of this site.

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Mathematics

The classic:

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (Clear Parentheses and Exponents, then Multiply and Divide before you Add and Subtract)

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History

Willy, Willy, Harry, Stee,
Harry, Dick, John, Harry three.
One, two, three Neds, Richard two,
Harry’s four, five, six, then who?
Edwards four and five, Dick the bad…
Harry’s twain, Ned six (the lad)
Mary, Bessie, James you ken…
then Charlie, Charlie, James again.
Will and Mary, Anna Gloria,
Georges four, Will four, Victoria.
Edward seven next, and then
came George the fifth in 1910.
Ned the Eighth soon abdicated
Then George the Sixth was coronated
After which Elizabeth…
and that’s all folks until her death. 

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In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

In 1493, Columbus stole all he could see.

Both courtesy of this site

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Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.  (The respective fates of the six wives of English monarch Henry VIII: Katharine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catharine Howard, Katharine Parr).

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CHANTS

Chants are basically just rhythmic, songlike recitations of information, but they work surprisingly well, particularly when combined with hand-clapping, like in the old children’s game of slapping hands together in a pattern.

Ancient History (Major ages of Greek history)

Minoans

My-cen-e-ans

Bar-bar-ians

GREEKS

Persians

Peloponnesians

Macedonians

ROME

(Usually followed with a completely irrelevant but fun, “Ancient Greek history- BAM!”)

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The Six Characteristics of Living Things

Cells, chemicals,

En-er-gy,

Grow, respond, reproduce.

HELPING and LINKING VERBS

Am, is,

Are, was, were,

Be, being, been.

Has, have, had,

Do, does, did,

Shall, will,

Should, would,

May, might, must,

Can, could.