Lesson Plan

1. Title/Topic/Grade level: Oh Deer!, Animal and Plant Interaction, 4th grade

2. Lesson Essential Questions:
How do animals and the environment interact?
3. Standards:
4-LS1-1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external
structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
4. A: Learning objectives and assessments:
Identify and describe the essential components of habitat
Describe what a balanced nature means
Graph and interpret cycles between resources and animals
B: Assessments:

Objectives

Assessments

SWBAT identify and describe

the essential components of
habitat

On a Post-It Note, students will write down what living

things need to survive (food, water, shelter).

SWBAT graph and interpret

cycles between resources and
animals

Students will complete an activity, graph and answer

questions about the relationship between animal population
and the amount of available resources.

5. Materials:
Whiteboard
Dry Erase Markers
Unit Folders
Molecules to Organisms Quiz (15)
Post-It Notes (15)
Oh Deer! Worksheet (15)
Oh Deer! Rubric (15)
Deer Index Cards (15)
Water, Food, Shelter Index Cards (15)
Graph Paper (15)
Clipboard
Writing Utensils

6. Pre-Lesson Assignments and/or Prior Knowledge:

Students have learned that anything that is living contains cells. Students know that
animals and plants are living and require food, water, and shelter to survive. Students
know that animals interact with the environment.
7. Lesson Beginning:
Give students 15 minutes to complete Molecules to Organisms Quiz
Hand out Unit Folders.
Draw students attention to our new class pet: Pascal the gecko. Ask students what kind of
environment the gecko lives in. Ask student what the gecko needs to survive. Have
students write their answers down on a Post-It Note.
On the board, have students stick their Post-It Notes. Discuss answers as a class.
8. Instructional Plan:
Explain to students that animals live in different habitats.
o Habitat-A type of environment where an animal or plant usually lives
Review the necessities of life
o Food
o Water
o Shelter
o Make signals for each resource an animal needs to survive:
If were looking for food we are going to put our hands over our stomach
If were looking for water we are going to put our hands over our mouth
If were looking for shelter we are going to put our hands over our heads
Explain to the students that today they are going to learn how deer interact in their
environment through an activity. Ask students what type of habitat a deer lives in. Ask
students what resources a deer needs to survive.
Activity: Before we take the students outside, give instructions of the activity to the
students
o Three students will be deer. They have to pick if they are hungry, thirsty, or need
shelter by using one of the signals that was created earlier. Give these students an
index card that says Deer on it. Place the deer on one side.
o On the opposite side, hand out Food, Water, or Shelter index cards to the other
students. They will be the resources.
o Have the students place their backs to each other.On the teachers Go! students
who are deer must find the resource that they are doing the signal for (food, water,
or shelter). The Deer must try to catch a student whose card matches their need
(food, water, shelter).
o The Deer must bring their resource back to their side. This represents the deer
meeting its needs to survive and reproduce. Those who were resources chosen by
the Deer now become Deer. They take a Deer index card.
o Any deer that fails to to find the component it was seeking becomes part of the
Habitat (food, water, or shelter) and takes an index card.

Continue this for 10 rounds. The teacher will record how many deer are at the beginning
and end of each round.
Discuss the activity. Ask the students what they saw while playing the game
o The herd of deer should grow in the beginning, but less and less meet their needs
as the habitat becomes limited.
Hand out the Oh Deer! Worksheet. Students will graph the ten rounds of the game on a
piece of graph paper. You will graph the first few rounds together, and then students will
complete the graph on their own. They will then answer the questions about the activity.
If it is not completed in class, it will be done for homework.

Differentiation: Examples will first be done as a class so no one feels discouraged if they
dont know the answer. Students that know the answers will most likely be the ones to
answer. There will be models for visual learners, via graphing together or making hand
signals to represent different resources. During the Oh Deer! Activity, kinesthetic learners
will benefit because they get to move around. When students finish the worksheet
independently, the teachers will be walking around the room to give students extra help who
need it.

Class Management: Students will be at their desks for the beginning of the lesson. Teacher
will direct students attention from the board and their papers. Teacher will hand out all
worksheets and materials before beginning the activities, so the students are not distracted.
Teacher will explain all directions for the Oh Deer! Activity, before dismissing and taking
them outside. Explain to the students that if they are tug, they need to go with the person.
Those who are not tug, will walk back to one of the sides, depending on if they are a deer or a
resource. They should not be running into other people. Teacher will walk around during the
activity to make sure students are listening to instructions. When a student is needed to
answer a question, the teacher will pick a name from the popsicle sticks. If students are
finished early, they can chose an activity from the Im Done Jar or work on their TIC TAC
TOE Projects.
Transitions: The lesson will begin with the students attention directed on the board. The
students will participate in a discussion before the activity. The class will be completing a
physical activity, in which the teacher gives instructions beforehand. The teacher will take
the students outside, distribute materials, and start the activity. When they are finished, the
teacher will bring the students inside, hand out their worksheet, and start completing it as a
class. At a certain point, students will finish the worksheet independently.

9. Closure: Students will practice The Atoms Family Song that they will preforming for their
parents.

Name: ____________________________________________________ Date: ___________

Oh, Deer!

1. Make a graph of the information that the teacher collected during the 10
rounds of the activity.
2. What observations can you make about the graph?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. What is the relationship that is seen between the deer and their resources?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4. Why is a habitat important for an animals survival?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Oh Deer!
4

Participation

Student
participated in
the activity and
expressed
enthusiasm and
was engaged.

Student
participated in the
activity, but
seemed distracted.
Was not very
engaged.

Students did
not participate
for the entire
activity.

Student did not

participate in
the activity.

Labels

All graphs are

labels
accurately.

Labels are missing

from some graphs
and/or are not
accurate.

Labels are
missing from
more than half
of the graphs
and/or are not
accurate.

Labels are
missing from
most of the
graphs or
information is
not accurate.

Graphs

All graphs are

drawn
accurately and
neatly.
Information can
easily been read
and understood.

All graphs are

drawn accurately
and neatly.
Information can
easily been read
and understood.
Some points may
be missing from
graphs.

Most graphs
are drawn
accurately and
neatly.
Information
may be difficult
to read.

Not all graphs

are drawn.
Graphs that
are draw may
be difficult to
read.

Worksheet

All questions are

answered neatly
and completely.

Most questions are

answered neatly
and completely.

Detail is
missing from
answers.
Answers are
not complete.

Questions are
not answered.

Total: _____ / 16