Alligators - Alligator Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students shall demonstrate an understanding of characteristics of organisms including animals. In this lesson, the focus will be on alligators where students will learn about the characteristics of the animal. This lesson integrates science and music. This lesson can be done with grades 4th grade and below. The song in this lesson is a great way to help students remember what they will learn about the alligator.

Grade Level: 3-4
I. Concept to be Taught; Alligators

II. Instructional Objectives;
- Students will understand the characteristics of an alligator.

III Materials:
- Picture of an alligator
- Song sheet for everyone or one song sheet on overhead transparency.

IV. Procedures;
A. Introduction:
1 .) Show students a picture of an alligator. Say "Today I would like you meet my alligator, he is from the zoo."
2.) Say "My alligator is named Gator, and today I have a little song to help us learn about our
friend (gator and all of his friends."
B. Learning Activities:
1 .) "I'm going to sing the first verse of the song and I want you to tell me where the alligator
lives."
2.) Sing the first verse.
3.) Ask students where the alligator lives and what the alligator eats sometimes when he's hungry.
4.) Sing the chorus and have students join in. Once they have the chorus teach them the actions (the students will clap normal and than every time they say gator they will clap up and down and pretend to be an alligator's mouth opening and shutting.)
5.) Ask the students if they know how long an alligator is. Let them guess and than say "Well
lets find out by singing the next verse."
6.) Sing the second verse with chorus than ask the students how long the average gator is. Show students an example of how big thirteen feet is by having 4 students that are 3 feet tall lie down on the floor and say that is how big a gator is.
7.) Say "In the chorus we make really big actions like the alligator. Does anybody know what
an alligator has in his big mouth?"
8.) Sing the third verse than re-ask the question "Does anybody know what an alligator has in his big mouth?" or say "You were right, the alligator has teeth in his mouth."
9.) Ask students if they have ever noticed an alligator's back? Ask students what looks different on an alligator's back.
10.) Say "Now that we know things about an alligator we need to find out what will keep us
safe if we see an alligator while we are on vacation to Florida. Let's sing the last verse of the song.
11.) Sing the last verse of the song than ask students what is one thing that we can do to keep ourselves safe. After they answer you may explain to students that alligators are shy of humans but if we start feeding them that shyness will go away and that is when the alligators attack.

C. Conclusion:
1.) Sing the whole song again with actions. Than review what they learned today about an alligator. Review by asking them to brainstorm about what they learned about an alligator in the song.

D. Extension:
1.) Have students draw a picture of their own alligator using the facts that they learned.

V. Evaluation:
- Use the questions throughout the lesson and during the review to evaluate the students.

Tune adapted from: Cindy, Beall, P. and Nipp, S (1989).
Wee Sing Fun ‘n’ Folk. Pg. 30.
1. You ought to see my gator,
He lives in a shallow lake,
And sometimes when he’s hungry,
He eats a little snake.
Chorus:
Get along home, Gator, Gator
Get along home, Gator, Gator
Get along home, Gator, Gator
Oh to the shallow lake
2. My gator he is very long
He is thirteen feet.
He looks like a lizard
But his tail is mostly meat
(Chorus)
3. He has a lot of teeth
In his rounded snout
And when he eats a fish
his teeth will not fall out
(Chorus)

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