"OH DEER!"

Elise S. Greene                John Hope Community Academy
                               5515 S. Lowe
                               Chicago IL 60621
                               (312) 535-3160

Objectives:

This activity is suitable for students in grades 4 thru 12.  As a result of the 
student's becoming "deer" and components of habitat in a highly involved 
physical activity, they will be able to: 1) identity and describe food, water, 
and shelter as three essential components of habitat; 2) describe the importance 
of good habitat for animals; 3) define "limiting factors" and give examples; and 
4) recognize that some fluctuations in wildlife populations are natural as 
ecological systems undergo constant change. 

Materials Needed:

stop watch or watch with a second hand, whistle, masking tape, stickers for 
writing the name "deer" on them, area- either indoors or outdoors- large enough 
for students to run; e.g. playing field, gym room, classroom with desk and  
chairs moved; chalkboard or flip chart; writing materials. 

Strategy:

1. Begin by telling students that they are about to participate in an activity 
that emphasizes the most essential things that animals need to survive.  Review 
the essential components of habitat with the students: food, water, shelter, and 
space in a suitable arrangement.  Define for students the key science vocabulary 
for the unit.  Science Vocabulary: habitat, limiting factors, predator, prey, 
population, balance of nature, ecosystem, static, fluctuate. 

2. Have students to count off in 4's.  Have all the 1's to go to one area; all 
the 2's, 3's and 4's go together to another area.  Mark two parallel lines on 
the ground or floor 10 to 20 yards apart.  Have the 1's line up behind one line; 
the rest of the students line up behind the other line. 

3. The 1's become "deer".  The "deer" need to find food, water and shelter in 
order to survive.  When a deer is looking for food, it should clamp its hand 
over its stomach.  When it is looking for water, it puts its hand over its 
mouth.  When it is looking for shelter, it holds its hands together over its 
head.  A deer can choose to look for any one of its needs during each round of 
the activity; the deer cannot, however, change what it is looking for; when it 
sees what is available during that round.  It can change again what it is 
looking for in the next round, if it survives. 

4. The other students are components of habitat.  Each student gets to choose at 
the beginning of each round which component he/she will be during that round.  
The students depict which component they are, in the same way the deer show what 
they are looking for. 

5. The game starts with all players lined up on their respective lines, with 
their backs to the students at the other line.  The teacher begins the first 
round by asking all of the students to make their signs- each deer deciding what 
it is looking for, each habitat component deciding what it is.  When the 
students are ready, blow the whistle.  When the whistle is blown, each deer and 
habitat component turn to face the opposite group, continuing to hold their 
signs clearly.  When deer see the habitat component they need, they are to run 
to it. Each deer must hold the sign of what it is looking for until it gets to 
the habitat component person with the same sign.  Each deer that reaches its 
necessary habitat component takes that component back to the deer side of the 
line.  This represents the deer successfully meeting its needs and reproducing. 
Any deer that fails to find its food, water, or shelter dies and becomes part of 
the habitat in the next round to the deer that are still alive. 

6. The recorder will keep track of how many deer there are at the beginning of 
the game and at the end of each round.  Continue the game for approximately 15 
rounds.  Keep the pace brisk. 

7. At the end of the 15 rounds, gather the students together to discuss the 
activity.  Encourage them to talk about what they experienced and saw.  Using a 
chalkboard, post the data recorded during the game.  List this information in 
graph form.  The number of deer at the beginning of the game and at the end of 
each round represent the number of deer in a series of years.  The beginning of 
the game is one year; each round is an additional year.  Deer can be posted by 
fives for convenience.  The students will see this visual reminder of what they 
experienced during the game. 

Performance Assessment:

1. In small group discussion, ask the students to summarize some of the things 
they have learned from this activity.  What do animals need to survive?  What 
are some of the "limiting factors" that affect their survival?  Are wildlife 
populations static or do they fluctuate, as part of an overall "balance of 
nature"?  Is nature ever really balanced, or are ecological systems involved in  
a process of constant change? 

2.                           WORKSHEET

Directions: Write the correct letter next to the word from the definitions on 
the opposite side of the page.

___ habitat                    A. animal seized by another for food.

___ limiting factors           B. at rest, not moving over time

___ predator                   C. natural living place

___ prey                       D. keep changing

___ population                 E. total number of inhabitants

___ balance of nature          F. preying on other animals for food

___ ecosystem                  G. conditions that limit a populations growth

___ static                     H. term used to describe the fluctuation of
                                  a species population

___ fluctuate                  I. a community and its environment as it 
                                  functions in nature.

                           EVALUATION

1. Name the 3 essential components of habitat?
2. Define "limiting factors".  Give 3 examples.
3. Examine the graph.  What factors may have caused the following population 
   changes: a. between years 1 & 2? b. between 3 & 4? c. between 5 & 6? d. 
   between 7 & 8?
                   p   
                   o     |
                   p  s  |.     .              .
                   u  i  |   .        .     .
                   l  z  |         .     .
                   a  e  |______________________ year
                   t      1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8
                   i
                   o
                   n

4. Which of the following graphs represents the more typically balanced 
   populations?
                    p  s |
                    o  i | . . . . . . . . .
                    p  z |
                       e |_________________  time

                    p  s |         .
                    o  i | .   . .  . .  .
                    P  z |   .         .
                       e |__________________ time