Quiz Day and Biology Songs! (all)

* BONUS: As I create more parody songs, I will automatically add them to this bundle! 30$ = access to all of my parody songs, for life! *

I *Love* making up parody songs, and often invent them on-the-fly while goofing around with friends. Once I got my own classroom, and noticed how stressed-out my over-pressured students were, I decided to use my quirky talent to give them a fun calm-down before each quiz and test.

Sometimes I wrote general calm-down songs, useful for any subject.

Sometimes I reminded my classes of the boundaries, their responsibility to use effective study skills, and that nothing on paper could ever define them or their potential.

Sometimes I threw in hints and reminders about the content we'd been studying - now and then, I'd project the lyrics while passing out exam packets, as an engaging "last minute cheat sheet."

Whether they loved the ritual or tolerated it, it calmed the class, ended any student chatter, and signaled "Assessment Protocol" to everyone in the room. They had until the end of the song to put their backpacks on the shelf, isolate themselves from others, stop chatter, and keep only pen/pencil at their desk. Cardboard "cubby" dividers were up, by this time, so no student would be aware of what other students were doing or writing. There wasn’t an instant, forced transition from chatting to silence, but it was teacher-focused and teacher-controlled.

It was a classroom management life-saver!

Content-Specific Biology Songs were always my favorites!

You can use them to either help students study up *or* as a fun reminder before a quiz about Lipids (or Macromolecules in general).

If you use one as a teaching tool, give each students a printout. Feel free to parallel English and their First Language/s, especially for students with low English fluency or if you feel they won't be familiar with the song!

These are all easy enough to sing for a Tenor or Alto; just bump it up/down an octave for Soprano or Bass. I've got no particular talent for singing, so I picked "easy" tunes from whatever the radio played as I commuted to/from school.

Some students, especially those new to American music/culture or students with musical gifts, appreciated a fun heads up: "Tomorrow's Quiz day song will be based on __[ artist and song ]__."

Check the music video first (Eek! good rule of thumb: "no bad words, no booty") or offer a lyrics-instead-of-dancing (safer) youtube link w/QR code for curious students.

[ Update: I had, long ago, made a Quiz Day parody based on Kanye's hits. I always introduced with, "He's awful to women and kind of bonkers, but his music is still compelling." Yikes! So much has unfolded over the years, so I've removed the Kanye song. Students loved it, but... no. ]

One year, two especially musical students offered to make an album of them singing all of my songs! They ended up too busy w/finals and things, but I'm always open to partnering with students or educators who want to lay down tracks - just email me to coordinate!

Enjoy!

-Lauren Noyes

FruiFfly7@gmail.com