Using Rhyme to Remember Information
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You can use rhymes to remember information. Here are two helpful rhymes.
In fourteen hundred ninety two,
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
Thirty days hath September
April, June, and November.
You do not have to be a poet to make rhymes. Let your imagination run wild. If you can create a
rhyme that works for you, use it. If you cannot make a rhyme, use one of the other remembering
techniques.
Here is a rhyme for remembering who wrote King Lear.
Do you know a play by Shakespeare?
Absolutely, he wrote King Lear.
Create a rhyme for each of the following. Whenever you can't, write NO CAN RHYME!
1. Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb.
2. Lansing is the capital of Michigan.
3. There are 360 degrees in a circle.
4. Jefferson was president of the United States when the Louisiana Purchase was made.
5. China has the largest population in the world.
6. The Ice Age ended 10,000 years ago.
7. Objects that have like electric charges repel each other.
8. A literacy test is a test to determine if a person can read and write.
9. A black hole is matter so dense that not even light can escape its gravity.
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Copyright © 1997 by Allyn and Bacon
Using Aoronyme to Remember
Information
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An acronym is a word made from the first letter of a set of words or terms that are to be remembered. Some acronyms are real words. Other acronyms are not real words, but they are words that
can easily be pronounced. Small words like for, the, and a usually are not included in the
acronym, but small words can be used when needed to create an acronym that can be pronounced. ROM is an example of an acronym. In this acronym, R stands for Read, O for Only, and
M for Memory. ROM will help you to remember the meaning of this important computer term.
Write the commonly used acronym for each of the following:
1. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
V
2. Mothers Against Drunk Drivers
3. North Atlantic Treaty Organization
4. Special Weapons Action Team
5. National Organization for Women
Write what these common acronyms stand for:
6. SALT
7. AWOL
8. AIDS
9. HUD
10. NASA
Now see if you can form acronyms for information you might find in your social studies and
science textbooks. For example, here is an acronym that can help you to remember the names of
the five Great Lakes: HOMES.
In this acronym, H stands for Lake Huron, O for Lake Ontario, M for Lake Michigan, E for
Lake Erie, and S for Lake Superior.
Because the Great Lakes do not have to be remembered in a certain order, the lakes were
arranged into an order that produced a word. Many times you will have to remember words or
terms in a certain order. Because you will not be able to rearrange the words or terms to be remembered, it will be harder to form an acronym. In these cases you might want to use abbreviations or acronymic sentences. Both of these techniques for remembering information are taught
later in this chapter.
Write an acronym for each of the following:
11. Native American tribes: Comanche, Sioux, Apache, Pequot
12. Elements: lithium, phosphorous, aluminum, radium, oxygen
Copyright © 1997 by Allyn and Bacon
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