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Health & Fitness

A "Donkey Bridge" or a Mnemonic can help you remember information.

As I was thinking about the upcoming Daylight Savings time for this weekend, I immediately said to myself: “Spring ahead, fall behind.” This is the only way I can remember that we change the clocks ahead an hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall. Now if everyone in the world could just do it at the same time, that would be helpful.

Now I grew up with this “donkey bridge” expression, but I never realized until now that it was more of a term used in Germany (Eselsbruecken). This is a tool which helps you make a connection between one idea and another, specifically for simple ideas that only a donkey would need help remembering. LOL! In the US, the more common term is a mnemonic which also helps you memorize information.

Here are some of my favorite mnemonics:

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Music : 50 Nifty United States" song is a way for children to remember all of the states in alphabetical order. I learned this song in 4th grade and would be happy to recite it for you at any time.

Name: ROY G. BIV - colors of the spectrum (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.)

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HOMES - North American Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior)

Expression: Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally - The order of operations for math is Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos - planets in our solar system (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Connection: Horizontal and Vertical –For horizontal, the sun sets on the horizon which goes from left to right. For vertical, the two lines that make up the letter V go up and down.

It is easy to make up your own mnemonic. I just made one up to remember the Project Management process groups for a class I am currently taking. I Plan on Eating More Chocolates: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring/Controlling and Closing.

I am sure there are many more, but I always found this to be a helpful study tool and have shared it with my children.

www.parentinglifelessons.com

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