O-HIIIIIIII-O

I’m in Columbus, Ohio for work. And all I can think of is my fourth grade teacher.

Each one of my teachers was excellent, but I can still hear Mrs. Hosey’s voice in my head. And if any of my fellow Carmen-Dacoma Raiders are reading along, as soon as they saw my photo of the Columbus airport, they heard her voice too.

My teacher was a very sharp lady name Mary Hosey. She was a veteran teachers and to us, she was ancient because she had taught a few of my classmates’ parents, but now that I think about it, she was probably my age.

Mrs. Hosey had a very distinct teaching style. First, she was know for telling us she would “drill it in our heads” (whatever she was teaching. She believed in repetition). Second, she was a master of mnemonic (yes, it’s spelled right; yes, I googled it, yes,I had it wrong earlier today) learning devices.

And that is why I am thinking of my teacher as I step off the plane in Columbus, and here I’ll share as many of these little tricks as I can remember. You should share them with your kids because they work.

STATES AND CAPITOLS:

OHIO. COLUMBUS stepped off his ship and said O HHIIIIIIIII-O! 😁

NEW JERSEY. TRENTON plays football and he needs a NEW JERSEY. 🏈

MICHIGAN. Michigan is shaped like a mitten. LANCE puts his hand in the mitten and SINGS (Lansing)🧤We had a classmate named Lance and we found this one to be hilarious.

MARYLAND. Remember Gillian’s Island? Mary Ann? MARYland/MaryANN. Maryland/Annapolis. I know. It’s a stretch but I remember it! 🏝️

VERMONT. VerMONT / MONT Pillar. No idea if it’s spelled right.

WISCONSIN. Sometimes when you SIN you get MAD about it. WisconSIN/MADison.

Western states. Not much there to help us, other than she DRILLED IN that Los Angeles was not the capitol of California.

The rhymes and funny sayings didn’t stop with states and capitols.

MULTIPICATION:

Seven times nine went up a tree. When they came down they were 63. 7X9 =63

Five and six were brothers, so they went to see their sisters, seven and eight. 7X8=56

Six/Eights — 48. 6X8=48

Six time four went out the door, when they cam back, they were 24. 6X4=24

That’s all I remember. Please drop more in the comments. Mrs. Hosey had a great game called Turndown that helped us with math. I wish I could remember the rules. I remember that I loved turndown day, and I never won.

Outside of math, she would do funny things to keep us knuckleheads in line. She would turn off the lights and say “the curse is on.” That meant we better stop talking immediately.

The spelling bee was hugely important to her. She was so proud of her students when they won.

Mrs. Hosey passed away about a year ago. When she did, so many of her students commented with her little sayings. And that’s the mark of a good teacher. We remember what she taught us. It has been 40ish years since she was my teacher, and I can’t walk through the Columbus airport without O-HIIIIIIIIII-O ringing in my head. Thank you Mrs. Hosey.