Introduction
By designing a meaningful and authentic learning experience for our classroom students will be able to identify the three branches of U.S. government and for each branch, describe the current leaders, functions, and main locations. Also, students will understand the system of checks and balances.
Task
I would announce that today’s lesson is about the U.S. government, which may have or may not have similarities to governments in students’ home countries. Compare the U.S. system of government and the system of government in students’ home countries to find similarities and differences.
Using these standards students will:
4.45 Analyze the US Constitution, naming the three branches of government (legislative, executive and judicial), and discuss the concept of checks and balances.
4.46 Explain the role of Congress, including the role of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and its power to make laws.
4.47 Explain the role of the president and the executive branch of government and the president’s power to carry out laws.
4.48 Explain the role of the courts and the judicial branch of government and their power to evaluate laws.
4.49 Compare the structure of the United States’ government with the forms of governments in at least two other countries.
Assess students’ content knowledge with the following questions:
Pre-reading Questions:
Who is the current leader of the U.S.?
What is your home country and who is its current leader?
Can the leader of your home country make or change laws?
Can the president of the U.S. make or change laws, and do whatever he or she wants for the country? If yes, can you give examples? If not, who makes the laws?
What is Congress? Who works there?
Have you heard of the Supreme Court? What does it do?
Students’ answers will show various degrees of understanding about how the U.S. government works and how the powers are distributed. Take notes on students’ answers and accept all feedback regardless of its accuracy. Let students know that they will refer back to these ideas and check for accuracy later in the lesson. The notes can be written on the board, if space allows, or in the students’ and teacher’s notebooks.
Process
Students will be shown Internet pictures of the White House, the Capitol Building, and the Supreme Court Building. Help students identify the buildings if needed. Ask the class, “Who works in these buildings?” If students do not know, distribute the reading passage, “The Three Branches of U.S. Government” and ask students to scan the text to find the answers. Write the correct answers (The President, Congress and the Supreme Court) under the respective pictures.
Tell the class that the U.S. government is divided into three branches and that each of the pictures on the board stands for each of the three branches.
Instruct students to scan the first 10 paragraphs to find the names of the three branches and match each branch with the correct picture. The names of each branch will be added under the correct picture (or, absent the picture, just the name of the building). At the completion of this activity, students will have a chart with three columns, similar to the one below, written in their notebooks. Each column should include the name of the branch, the main location (for business), and the current leader/s.
US Government
| The Legislative Branch | The Executive Branch | The Judicial Branch |
|---|---|---|
| The Capital Building | The White House | The Supreme Court Building |
| Congress | The President | The Supreme Court |
Students read the text silently and make a list of new words. Instruct Group A to read the entire text and Group B to read the first ten paragraphs. Discuss and clarify essential vocabulary: government, legislate - legislative, executive, enforce, judicial, commander-in-chief, courts, justice – a justice; capital - capitol; bill, law, constitutional; break the tie, veto, overturn a law. Practice: (30-40 min.) In groups, students study one branch of government and list important information from the text. Each group reports information to the class. All three branches are covered by the various groups.
Students look at the text again and answer follow-up questions on the worksheet. Group A answers the first 10 questions while Group B answers the first 5 questions. This is an oral activity and students write the key words or underline the relevant words or phrases from the text. Students work independently at first, locating the information in the text, and then they compare their answers. Encourage students to mingle and compare their answers with people from a different group.
Review and discuss answers as a class using the text as reference. Students provide evidence from the text to support their answers. (How do you know? Where in the text did you find that?)
Homework: Students finish answering comprehension questions about the federal government. Collect and correct work next class.
Evaluation
Conclusion
Students will be able to identify the three branches of U.S. government and for each branch, describe the current leaders, functions, and main locations. Also, students will understand the system of checks and balances.
Students will watch these videos:
Three Branches of Government
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUqeAsogI70
System of Checks and Balances:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hANJI_DNmCg
Students can use these various links for research:
https://www.usa.gov/branches-of-government
https://www.house.gov/the-house-explained/branches-of-government