A Bill becomes a Law

Introduction

Have you ever wanted to make a lasting change in this school? Something that will affect the entire school, or maybe just your grade level or class? Well here's your chance.

Task

You and your group are tasked with coming up with an idea that you think will improve our school. After coming up with the idea, your group will need to write it as a bill. All of the bills in the class will then be voted on by our senators and congressmen (students in the class). If it passes both the Senate and the House of Representatives, the presidents (teachers) will either sign it into law or veto it. If it is signed into law, the supreme court (Principal) will then decide wether it is constitutional (fits into school rules) or not.

Process

1. You will be working in groups of 4 for this project.

2. You and your group will begin by learning about the three branches of governemt by copying the link to your address bar to watch the Schoolhouse Rock video.

http://www.schooltube.com/video/89a42a6866404f4baab7/Im-Just-a-Bill

3. Everyone in your group will read the article about the three branches of government. Then, each person in your group will become an expert on one of the parts of the Legislative Branch by reading one of the articles on kids.gov.

4. After reading the articles everyone will explore the Congress for Kids website. There are many articles to read, games to play, quizzes to take, and links to explore.

5. After checking out the Congress for Kids website, your group will discuss the differences in the parts of the legislative branch.

6. You and a partner will play LawCraft to show the entire process of passing a bill.

7. Finally, your group will write a bill about a change they want to make in our school. Each group member will complete a bill form. (I will give everyone paper copies of this form)

8. After your group has completed their bill, you and a partner can play The Bill Game to show your knowledge of the legislative process.

3 Branches of Government article: (Everyone Reads)

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/branches.html

Legislative Branch (Each student reads a different article)

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/national/legislative.html

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/national/congress.html

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/national/house.html

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/government/national/senate.html

Congress for Kids

http://www.congressforkids.net/Legislativebranch_index.htm

LawCraft

https://www.icivics.org/games/lawcraft

The Bill Game

http://www.state.nj.us/hangout_nj/games_billgame.html

Bill Form

20____ General Session

The United Students of ______________________________Class

Title:___________________________________________

Name of Committee Members:________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Summary of the bill (What is the purpose of the bill?)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Detailed description of the bill:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

How is it going to be carried out?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Effective date: When will the bill go into practice?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

House Voting: Yes_______________ No_________________

Senate Voting: Yes______________ No_________________

Presidents Signature:______________________________ Date:_____________

Evaluation

This is the rubric that will be used to assess your contribution and creation of your bill.

Bill Creation Rubric

Student Name:_______________________

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Contributions	Routinely provides useful ideas when participating in the group and in classroom discussion. A definite leader who contributes a lot of effort.	Usually provides useful ideas when participating in the group and in classroom discussion. A strong group member who tries hard!	Sometimes provides useful ideas when participating in the group and in classroom discussion. A satisfactory group member who does what is required.	Rarely provides useful ideas when participating in the group and in classroom discussion. May refuse to participate.
Quality of Work	Provides work of the highest quality.	Provides high quality work.	Provides work that occasionally needs to be checked/redone by other group members to ensure quality.	Provides work that usually needs to be checked/redone by others to ensure quality.
Bill Creation	The bill is very creative and is likely to get passed signed into a law. It is written neatly and there are no errors.	The bill might get signed into law. There are a few errors, but they do not interfere with the reading and understanding of the bill.	The bill might get signed into law. There are many errors that make it difficult to read and understand.	The bill is not practical for our school. It is very difficult to read and understand.

Conclusion

It is very important for us as citizens to know and understand how our government works. You should now be able to teach others how laws are created and what happens if a bill is vetoed. Please finish this project by completing this evaluation survey. Your answers will be anonymous.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XYSM38N

Credits

Works Cited

Web sites, e-sources

Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids. Superintendent of Documents, U.S. GPO, 3 Feb. 2009. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. <http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/index.html>.

Congress for Kids. Dirksen Congressional Center, 2008. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. <http://www.congressforkids.net/Legislativebranch_house.htm>.

Teacher Page

Final Assessment

This is a link to a pdf document of the final assessment for this project.

http://mercury.educ.kent.edu/database/eureka/documents/HowABillBecomesA…

Standards

Colorado Academic Standard 4.2. The origins, structure, and functions of the United States government