Can you name the planets in our solar system in the correct order? There is a game show contest—Are you as smart as a third grader? – this is a preschool lesson. Memory techniques are useful – utilizing acronyms or mnemonics. Hank is five and he can tell you “My very enthusiastic mom just served us noodles.” Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. Hank’s mom reminds us she learned this ending in nine pizza’s before Pluto was de-platinized. A mnemonic, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory. Knuckle mnemonics would remind you of the months with less than 31 days. Put your fists together and the first knuckle on your left hand represents January. Then to the hollows between the knuckles, the first is February with 28 days. As you continue to recite the months the knuckles are the months with 31 and the hollows between represent those months with less. Some of us learned thirty days hath September, April, June and November except February….A song or jingle can also be a recall device-Sesame street sings the abc song for kids at very young ages, it is an important first step in the education process. As a good balance point, Abraham Lincoln said, “ No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.” Understanding, recalling and speaking the truth is a skill worth remembering.
No butts about it, Hank and his friends laugh every time the planet Uranus is mentioned. In Captain Underpants, best fourth grade friends George and Harold are mischievous boys. They laugh at Professor Poopypants and any time the seventh planet is mentioned. Hank finally asked his mom why the reference was funny and she explained it was a “Butt” joke. Even as a mature senior citizen I have to laugh every time I hear a news story about the CEO of the National Enquirer, David Pecker. No laughing, it would be childish.
So, Uranus is properly pronounced in a non laugh inducing manner. It takes the blue planet 84 years to orbit the sun so most of us would only see one birthday if we lived there. This is not a good planet for Hallmark cards. The planet is tipped at a 97 degree angle on its axis which makes its magnetic field not work the same way of the rest of planets. While all of the other planets, except Earth, are named for the Roman gods, the ice giant is named for the Greek god of the sky. William Herschel discovered the orb and named it for King George but the name was not in keeping with the established naming rights.
I often take inspiration from my grandchildren and children who see the world in a unique way. I would want every child to have family and friends who open the world to them. Charles R. Swindoll said it well, “Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.”
Make a new memory this week end. Mike