The Knuckle Calendar

"Thirty days has September, April, June and November. All the rest have 31 except February which has 28 until Leap Year comes, then it has one more."
Tell me you didn't memorize that in grade school just the way I did. Until tonight, I thought it was the ONLY way to remember how many days were in each month...not that such information is needed on a regular basis, but still...
As I watched a group of students complete a homework assignment dealing with the angle of the sun on the earth at certain times of the year, I saw them trying to figure out how many days were in various months by counting on their knuckles. Since this seemd ridiculous to me, I gave them the rote method I had learned in school; Matt looked at me and said, "That's old school stuff...it's too hard. We do it the easy way."
I scoffed at his presumptive attitude but asked him to demonstrate, and he did. This is how it works:
1. Make a fist
2. Begin on the index finger knuckle with "January"
3. Move to the space between the index and middle finger knuckles...that's February.
4. Continue with knuckle-space-knuckle-space until you've gone through all twelve months.
Each month that lands on a knuckle has only 30 days.
Each month that lands on a space between knuckles has 31
The exception is February. I guess you just have to know that one.
Teaching old school dogs new tricks isn't easy, but it definitely involves less memory work...though one still has to memorize the months in order to be successful.
As for me, I have a calendar in my cell phone in case I get stuck.
But no help yet for remembering the periodic table.