Memory Techniques to Help Your Child Remember Information

There are tons of ways to help your child remember information! Think of how many things in our lives starting from when we were in elementary school to this very moment that we have to remember! TOO MANY THINGS, right?

It seems that every day there are multiple things to remember! In addition, if you’re like me, you either write multiple Post-it Notes, have a notebook of what has to be done, etc.

Similarly, kids have a ton of daily things to remember plus all of them remember their tons of previous information. How much can a brain take!

How we stored all of that information in our brains is amazing to me. And then we think of our kids!!

Just some of the information they have or will have to remember are the many rules of the English language, story parts, multiplication facts, formulas, rules for math topics, what they have to do to get ready for school,  etc! The list goes on and on!!

 

About Mnemonics – or memory strategies or techniques

I’ve gathered information that I’ve taught and researched on mnemonics (strategies or techniques) to help your child remember information (and you too). There’s not just one strategy – there’s MANY, but there’s definitely help for your child to remember information!

 

I’ll give you simple strategies and more advanced ones (the advanced ones are at the end of this post) that are best suited for kids (but let’s be real, all ages can benefit from knowing some memory techniques)! You can also use multiple strategies to remember one piece of information.

There are so many situations in which your child needs to remember information and one strategy does not fit them all. And everyone is different so what works for one person does not work for another. And as I mentioned earlier, sometimes you’ll need to create two or more different strategies for the same piece of information that your child is trying to remember.

There is information for your short-term memory that you only need temporarily and then there’s information that life would be so much easier if that information was easily retrieved! I do not suggest making a strategy for everything your child needs to know or memorize all at once, but rather try a few strategies out on one piece of information that is really important for your child to memorize. After you figure out what works best, then keep working it!!!!

 

These Books Can Help Your Child Remember Information!

I have used this book to give my students strategies to remember spelling and grammar rules. This book has ways to remember information in a variety of ways, these are just a couple of examples:

Their and There
Their – He and I are their sons.
There – You’ll find here and there

To, Too, Two
To – Go to the store!
Too – Did you break your tooth, too?
Two -there are two twins

Mind Maps for Kids by Tony Buzan. This fun and colorful book has amazing ideas to help your child focus and remember information! If you check out the reviews and sample pages, you’ll be convinced this is a great purchase!!

Mnemonics

More Strategies to Help your Child Remember Information

Association – In association, your child needs to make a connection or association from one item to something else. For example, when a child has a character named Isabell and they have an Aunt Isabell, then that’s an association.

Picture – To picture information your child needs to make a picture of the information in their mind. For example, picture what they think a character looks like, acts, etc.

Repeating – In repeating, your child simply repeats the information over and over again until they remember the information.

Grouping – In grouping, your child categorizes the information they need to remember.

Songs and Rhymes: To create a song or rhyme your child puts the information they want to remember into some kind of funny song or rhyme. You can also use a tune from other songs that you know. 
This is a song in the tune of London Bridges for the being verbs:
Am, is, are, was, were, be, been,
have, has, had,
do does, did,
may, can, must, might,
could, should, would,
shall, will, being.

The difference between latitude and longitude:
LAT is FAT because it goes around the equator belt.

The rule for 2 vowels together:
Two vowels go walking, one does the talking the other does the walking (the second one is silent).

More Ways to Help Your Child Remember Information

Flashcards – Flashcards can be used for just about anything your child wants to remember – sight words, spelling words, studying definitions for any kind of terms in reading, science, and social studies, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Sticky Notes – Sticky notes can be used for a variety of things to remember.  I have tons of them! They are used in schools as a comprehension strategy!  One example is making notes about a book your child is reading. Your child can write notes as they read and stick the sticky notes inside the book. Sticky notes are good for anything you’d use flashcards for – notes, memorizing words, definitions, etc. I LOVE sticky notes and so do the kids at school!

 

 

Writing – Writing information over and over again can help. That’s how I memorized the multiplication table! You can write on anything from notepaper to the back of a cereal box!

Notebooks – A notebook is a great idea to keep track of information that your child needs to remember. A sticky note can get thrown away, but the information in a notebook can be kept forever!

 

 

Record – Recording information instead of taking notes can also be a useful strategy for your child. Your child can record what needs to be memorized, then listen to it, write it, repeat it while reading it, etc.

 

 

 

 

In Addition, More Ways to Help Your Child

Cornell Notetaking Technique – The Cornell Notetaking technique is my favorite notetaking technique! It’s simply leaving the left column open for a quick summary, with pictures, phrases, words, etc. On the right side is the bulk of the information with spaces between the different topics. This website explains it in detail.

Make an Acronym – An acronym is a great technique to remember information. You can have your child use the first letters of the words or phrases that they need to remember. For example:

HOMES for the Great Lakes. (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Eerie, Superior).
ROY G. BIV for the spectrum colors – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue Indigo, Violet).

Make an Acrostic – An acrostic is similar to an acronym, with the distinction with that it consists of a sentence rather than a word. For Example:

PLEASE EXCUSE MY DEAR AUNT SALLY for the order of operations (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract).
Never Eat Soggy Waffles for the cardinal directions (North, East, South, West).
My Dear Aunt Sally for the steps of division (Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract)!

More Technical Mnemonic

Techniques to Help Your Child Remember Information

Linking – In the Link Method, each word in a list has to be linked with the one following it creating a picture or image in your child’s mind in which you can see the objects or events representing both words. So to remember a list of items, link the first item with the second, the second to the third, and so on.

For example:

1. Backpack and reading book (your child needs to imagine these two items together)
2. Reading book and math folder  (your child needs to imagine these two items together)
3. Math folder and homework folder (your child needs to imagine these two items together)
4. Homework folder and pencils  (your child needs to imagine these two items together)
5. Pencils and lunch or lunch money  (your child needs to imagine these two items together)

 

Path method – To use the Path method, your child imagines a path and place the items they need to remember along the path. You could use this for what your child needs to do after school.

Examples:

1. Get a snack – visualize a picture of a favorite snack down a path near your house, or favorite spot
2. Change clothes – visualize a favorite outfit on the path
3. Do homework – visualize books and a backpack on the path
4. Watch TV – visualize the tv, computer, etc. down the path, etc.

These are some other posts that can help your child learn:

• 10 Tips to Improve Your Child’s Reading Comprehension
• Online Learning Help for Parents
• FAMILY FUN IDEAS
• Back to School Goals for Kids
• Reading Motivation Activities
• Help for a Child with ADHD at School
• Homework Routines That Work!
• Do you Know the 4 Signs that your Child is Struggling in School?
• How to Motivate a Reluctant Reader at Home!
• How to Help a Reluctant Reader
• Super Fun Ideas For Reading Practice
• Is Your Child a Struggling Reader?
• Help Your Child Get Ready For Kindergarten
• Books for Boys Who Hate to Read and Tips to Get Them Reading Today!
• How to Help Your Struggling Reader at Home
• How to Get Your Child to Read – Fourth and Fifth Grade
• 25 Ideas for Reading Skills Practice at Home!
• How to Help Your Child Get Ready to Read
• Is Your Child a Reluctant Reader?
• Motivate your Child to Read More – a Reading Challenge!
• 6 Reasons Why Your Child Won´t Read
• How to Get Your Child to Read – Kindergarten and First Grade
• How to Get Your Child to Read – Second and Third Grade

These are just some of the ways to help your child remember information! Some of the other methods are a little more complicated. I hope these ideas help your child (and you as well). Life goes much easier if we take the time to use and create these strategies. As always, email me if you have any questions or comments at mrs.dehm@gmail.com.