>Study Strategies: Tricks of the Trade for Elementary School Students
1. Make Cue Cards. Use the cards to play: “War”, “Concentration”, etc.. When your child is studying alone make sure he/she creates 2 piles: the “I already know pile” and the “I need to learn pile”. Don’t spend too much time on the “I already know pile”. Shuffle the pile every once in a while in order to change the order.
2. Chew – Chew your way to the top! Some students just need help to become activated, to focus … a little movement can go a long way! Something as simple as chewing gum might help him/her focus.
3. Walk – Encourage your child to walk while he/she reads/reviews his/her cue cards. Again, a little movement can go a long way!
4. Rainbow – Colour code notes or cue cards. Be creative. Make them look great! Create and follow a pattern or strategy.
5. Draw – draw, doodle, illustrate concepts … Have fun! Cut pictures from magazines and make a collage or two (or ten!). The more meaningful, clever, silly, creative the illustrations the more the concepts will “stick”.
6. Teacher – Ask your child to create, administer and mark a test it for you to take. Let them be “the teacher”!
7. Sing – Take a familiar tune (e.g. “Happy Birthday”, “Twinkle, Twinkle”) and write new words to the song based on the study notes/concepts to be covered.
8. Create – Use well known, or help your child create his/her own mnemonics to help him/her to memorize facts.
Cheers,
Ally
