Day 1 Lesson Plan Introduction to the National Government: The Branches of the United States Government Seventh Grade

Civics Goal: Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding the governmental system of the United States. Objectives: Working in small groups, students will be able to describe the system of Checks and Balances and identify the Three Branches encompassing the federal government. Required Materials: A computer to play Schoolhouse Rock Video: Three-Ring Circus (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEPd98CbbMk) Large sheets of paper Markers Detailed Lesson Warm up activity: Students will be given the following prompt question: Do you think the President the most powerful person in the United States government? After students are given five minutes to collect and write their thoughts, students will be asked to share their answers to the question. The inquiry of student responses, depending on the amount of responses, will last for one or two minutes. Activity for the day: After the completion of the warm up exercises, the short Schoolhouse Rock clip, Three Ring Circus will be played. Upon the completion of the video, the instructor will begin to write notes on the board, elaborating on the following terms introduced in the video: executive branch, legislative branch, judicial branch, separation of powers. Students will be instructed to take notes by creating a diagram exemplifying the three branches, as the instructor draws one on the board. Before the instructor provides students with a definition for each term, the class will be called upon to provide a definition based on the Schoolhouse Rock video. Students will then be asked why they think the United States has a system of Checks and Balances. After allowing students to share their responses, a brief lecture will be given on the founding fathers reasoning for implementing three parts into our national government, providing

a system of checks and balances. From the structure of the lecture provided below, the instructor will write the following terms on the board to illustrate their significance to students and allow for further explanation: Checks and Balances, tyranny, monarchy. Lecture Notes: The founding fathers created a system of government with three equal parts to avoid any section of the government from becoming too powerful and over power the other sections of government. The founding fathers did not want to have a system of government in place that allowed for The Idea wasnt completely original, the founding fathers based this form of government off of ancient Greek and roman governments. Why checks and balances?After the Revolutionary war, the newly independent nation, was terrified of having a tyrannical, government like they believed the Monarchy under King George III to be. The colonists viewed a monarchy, the political system where the power of a country is given to a king or queen, as a bad system of government since all of the power was given to one person, and that one person was more likely, having all the power, to take advantage of the people. Examples: Taxation without representation: Tea act, Stamp act- Mother England taking advantage of the colonies. Thus, the founding fathers and framers of the government created a federal government with its power distributed evenly over three parts to see that the national government would not abuse the rights of the states or the American people.

Students will then be divided into three groups, representing the three parts of the federal government. Each group will be given a large piece of paper and markers to write down any relevant information regarding their government branch such as powers the sections hold, offices within the sections and people holding those offices. Students will be given 10 minutes to write their thoughts and at the end of those allotted 10 minutes, the instructor will ask each group to share what they have written on their paper. Wrap up Activity: The instructor will ask the students to write two questions they have about the executive branch in their notebooks. Homework Assignment: Reading worksheet about the three branches with written questions. Students will be instructed to underline any words they are unfamiliar with. The homework sheet follows this page.

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The Three Branches of Government: Homework Sheet #1 Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the following five questions. Circle any word you are unfamiliar with. The national government of the United States is located in Washington, D.C. The national government runs the country. The national government is made up of three parts called branches. The three branches of the national government in the U.S. are Congress, the Supreme Court, and the President. Congress, or the legislative ring, is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Representatives and senators are elected by the people of their states. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate make and pass laws for the United States. The Supreme Court, or the judicial ring, is another branch of the U.S. Government. The job of the Supreme Court is to make sure the laws of the U.S. are followed. They also settle questions about the laws. The President appoints, or chooses, justices for the Supreme Court and the Senate approves them. The President, or the executive branch, is another branch of the U.S. Government. The President makes sure the laws are carried out and that new laws are made. The President lives and works in the White House. The President is elected by the people, or citizens, of the United States. Each branch of the U.S. Government has its own job to do. Each branch also makes sure that the other branches don't exercise too much power. It is very important that all three branches of the U.S. Government work together for people of the United States. Use the information above to complete the following statement: 1) The three branches of the U.S. government are the ______________, legislative and judicial. 2) The National Government runs the _________________. 3) The Legislative Branch makes and passes ___________. 4) The President makes sure that new laws are ______________and new laws are ________. 5) It is important that the three branches of government ___________________.