Lesson Plan Guide

Teacher Candidate: Molly Lowitzer

Date: December 3, 2016

Grade and Topic: 3rd grade TN History

Length of Lesson: 2 hours

Mentor Teacher:

School: University of Memphis

UNIT/CHAPTER OBJECTIVE/GENERALIZATION/BIG IDEA:

Students will learn about constitutions and how government is formed to gain insight as to how government is
run.

LESSON OBJECTIVE:
The student will learn vocabulary specific to the constitution as well as understand what purpose the sections
serve.
Students will work together as well as alone, having their individual work graded based on a rubric.
STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
TN SS 3.30 Describe the constitution of the US and TN state constitution in principle and practice.
MATERIALS:
Laptops
Worksheets
Paper
BACKGROUND and RATIONALE:
Key concepts: A constitution explains how the government is set up.

Theres more than one branch so none outweigh the others.

Citizens hold the power in a constitution.
Academic language: constitution, rights, powers, executive branch, elections, impeachment, judicial branch, legislative
branch
This lesson builds on lessons about town government and will lead in to a lesson on national government.
By using a learning menu, there is differentiation for different minds in the classroom.

PROCEDURES AND TIMELINE:

Introduction: Remember when we talked about the mayor and alderman and the sheriff who are elected to our
town? Well do you ever wonder about how our state government works? Lets find out.
Procedures:
- Pass out learning menus and set out worksheets at the front for students to access.
- Pass out laptops from a cart, if a cart is not available, they can do the technology portions in groups.
- Students will work on appetizer and I will walk around checking work so the can
- Move on to appetizer. I will walk around to answer questions and collect their work as they finish.
- Students finished early can do a dessert to enhance their learning.

Closure: Read book on state government.

ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE:
Answer 9 out of the 10 questions correctly during the appetizer to move on to the entre.
Rubric for entre projects.
Score
Content
Aesthetics
Grammar

3
Hits all three key concepts
of the lesson.
Is aesthetically pleasing,
easy to read/hear, and easy
to follow.
Has perfect grammar.

2
Only touches one or two of
the key concepts.
May be pretty but is hard to
follow and read/hear

Has a few grammar

mistakes.
Students score 8 out of 10 on the rubric for their presentations.
Sample Prezi: http://prezi.com/j717zavcdrjk/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

1
No key concepts covered in
presentation.
Is not pleasing to the eye
and cannot be easily
followed to learn from.
Full of grammar mistakes to
a distracting degree.

MODIFICATIONS:
Students who do not meet standards for the appetizer will need to read more information or reread what they
had previously read.
Students who master the lesson before the closing can do dessert and/or extra reading.

Online Scavenger Hunt

Name_______________
Date____________
Go to the Website: http://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/civics/i_2
1. What does a constitution do?
Explains the way the government is set up
2. How is this constitution like the national one we will learn about next week?
Explains the branches of government and how the people running those branches are chosen as
well as explaining the rights of citizens.
3. What is something funny about the constitution?
It says ministers cant hole office or It prohibits people who have dueled from holding office.
4. Do people argue about parts of the constitution?
Yes
5. Can the constitution be changed?
Yes

Click the link to learn about the three branches of Tennessee government.
1. What are the three branches of government?
Legislative, judicial, and executive.
2. What does the legislative branch do?
Makes the laws; hold the house and the senate.
3. What does the executive branch do and who is the head of it?
Enforces the laws; Governor Bill Haslam
4. What does the judicial branch do?
Interprets the laws; judges in court cases
5. Can the citizens decide to reorganize their government how they choose or is the federal
government in charge?
They can reorganize the government how the choose.