Strategic learning acronyms are groups of letters that help children remember important concepts. They remind children what to do first when solving math problems, what notes to sing or play when reading music, the names of the colors created by a crystal or the names of the visible heavenly bodies. These acronyms are known as mnemonics, pronounced "nee-mah-niks." Use of mnemonics is just one strategy that can help you cement ideas in your mind.
PEMDAS
PEMDAS, or "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally," is a mnemonic for the order of operations to perform when solving a math problem. Mathematician Elizabeth Stapel, creator of the site Purple Math, explains that the order of operations was set sometime in the 1500s so that there would be a standard way to solve math problems.
The P stands for parentheses, E for exponents, M for multiply, D for divide, A for add and S for subtract. In other words, you do anything that is in parentheses first before applying any exponents. You do all the multiplications, divisions, additions and subtractions inside the parentheses and repeat the same order outside the parentheses.
Roy G. Biv
Roy G. Biv helps children remember the colors of the visible spectrum created when sunlight or artificial light strikes a faceted crystal or water droplet. This effect creates rainbows if it storms on a sunny day. R stands for red, O for orange, Y for yellow. G is green, B is blue, I is indigo and V is for violet. Research scientist Greg Crowther created a song called "The Ballad of Roy G. Biv" that makes it even easier to remember the colors.
FACE and Every Good Boy Does Fine
FACE stands for the notes on a musical staff that fall between the lines: low F, A, high C and high E. Every Good Boy Does Fine helps you remember the names of the notes on each line of the staff from bottom to top: E, G, B, D and high F. Music teachers Elaine Ernst Schneider and Joanne Mikola explain that these are the notes on a treble or G clef, "because the loop at the bottom wraps around the line on a staff for the G note above middle C."
HOMES
HOMES helps you remember the names of the Great Lakes of the United States: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior. Travel Lady Sandra Scott advises vacationers to drive HOMES, stating that the trip along the shores "encompasses world-class cities, thundering waterfalls, sweeping sand dunes...and hundreds of lighthouses."
