EGP 335: Unit Plan Lesson Plan Template

Author: Rebecca Gumpel

Unit: US Government
Lesson: Check and Balances, Lesson 11

Lesson Preparation
I. Learning Objectives
a. SWBAT identify the three branches of government and their functions.
b. SWBAT identify the people involved in each branch of government.
c. SWBAT implement their knowledge of the three branches in a simulation.

II. Standards by Discipline and Content Themes

a. Social Studies
i. Standard - 5.3.3.A- Identify the roles of the three branches of
government.
ii. Standard - 5.3.3.B- Identify how laws are made in the local
community.
b. NCSS Themes
i. VI. Power, Authority, and Governance- c. Give examples of
government does or does not provide for the wants and needs of
people, establish order and security, and manage conflict.

III. Academic Language

a. 2 senators from each state
b. Bills are brought to the Legislative branch to be voted on.
c. The number of House of Representatives from each state depends on the states
population.
d. The House of Representatives can impeach the President, VP, cabinet or
Supreme Court if they are found guilty of a crime.
e. The Judicial Branch can deem a bill voted yes from either branch as
unconstitutional.
f. The executive branch can VETO a bill passed by the legislative branch
g. If a bill is VETO-ed, it goes through the whole process again
h. If a bill is passed by the president, it becomes a law.
i. Government was created through a system of checks and balances
j. Ensured that no branch or person had monopoly on power
 k. Each branch of government checks on each other; can make changes to other
branches decisions

IV. Technology, Materials, Resources

a. SMARTboard to project lesson on checks and balances
b. Costumes
i. Suit or skirt for President
ii. Ties and jackets for the Senate and House of Representatives
iii. Robes for the Supreme Court
c. Scenarios
i. Bill to be given to the Legislative branch to discuss and vote on
ii. Two bills to be given to the Executive branch to move along and VETO
iii. Bill to be given to the Judicial branch to vote on if it is unconstitutional
d. Im Just a Bill video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFroMQlKiag
e. VETO stamp
f. Ink
g. Fake podium
h. Microphone
i. Chairs
j. PowerPoint on checks and balances

Instructional Delivery
V. Anticipatory Set
a. Throughout the lesson, the students will be focusing on the journey of bills
through the 3 branches of government. The idea of Checks and Balances
will be placed in their heads as they watch the branches do their jobs.
b. I want to start out the lesson by reminding them of what they have learned
so far about the 3 branches of Government.
c. Students will be asked to come up to the front carpet and take a seat. The
teacher will then play the school house rock video entitled Im Just a Bill.
i. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFroMQlKiag
d. The class will then discuss what they witnessed in the video.
e. The teacher will then pull up a PowerPoint presentation explaining the
concept of checks and balances to the class.
f. After the lesson on Checks and Balances, the teacher will begin
explaining the task for the days lesson.
i. The students will be split up into 3 different groups and will act out
each branchs jobs when given a bill.
ii. The groups will each be given a branch and 1 or 2 bills to vote on.
 iii. Each group will do their discussion and voting in front of the class
with the teacher as the facilitator.
iv. At the end of the process, the class will have one of the bills
become a law for the classroom.
g. This lesson will give the students an opportunity to have a say in a
classroom vote, as well as see how each branch of government works
together to create the laws.

VI. Instructional Activities

a. The students will be split into 3 groups acting as the 3 branches of
government.
i. The largest group will be the legislative branch. In a class of 25, this
group will have 15 students.
ii. The executive branchs group will consist of 5 students. The
President, the Vice President, and 3 members of the cabinet.
iii. The Judicial branch will consist of 5 students. They will all be a part
of the Supreme Court.

b. Each group will be given 1 or 2 bills to be voted on.

i. The Legislative branch will be given a bill on having an end of the
marking period pizza party, and a bill on having an end of the
marking period pajama party. (Both of these should be passed by
the branch to move on)
ii. The Judicial branch will be given the bill on having an end of the
marking period pizza party, and will be prompted into deeming it
unconstitutional, due to having some students with a dairy allergy in
the class.
iii. The executive branch will be given 2 bills to vote on. One will be for
an end of the marking period pajama party for the class. The other
will be for having a veggie bash as the end of the marking period
celebration. (The second one is supposed to be the one that is
vetoed. This one was passed by the teacher to move onto the
executive branch.)

c. The voting will happen in front of the class so that the students can
witness the process first hand as it is happening in front of them.
i. The legislative branch will start first. This will be facilitated by the
teacher.
 1. The teacher will introduce the 2 bills to the branch and then
open it up for discussion
2. If a student has something to say, they will come up to the
podium in the front of the room and make their case. The
teacher will then open it up for questions to that specific
member of the branch.
3. The conversation continues for however long the group has
things to discuss.
4. If the teacher notices that everything being said is all
positive, they may insert a problem with the bills such as it
may decrease productivity during the school day.
5. The group will then bring it to a vote. The teacher will go
through each bill and ask for all those in favor to put their
hands up and all those opposed to put their hands up.
6. Both bills should be voted yes
ii. The judicial branch will be the next ones up.
1. The teacher will provide them with the bill on having a pizza
party and ask them to discuss why it may be unconstitutional
for the classroom.
2. The teacher may have to do a brief explanation of the term
unconstitutional to the class.
3. The teacher will then facilitate a discussion on the bill by
passing around a microphone that will be used as a talking
stick for the members of the branch to voice their opinions.
4. If the group is not seeing the issue with the bill, the teacher
may have to remind them of the fact that some people may
have a dairy allergy.
5. The group will then vote on if the bill is unconstitutional.
6. The vote should come out that the bill is unconstitutional and
the teacher will then explain that if that happens, the bill will
be thrown away.
iii. The executive branch will be the last ones up.
1. The group will get 2 bills from the teacher. One bill will be the
pajama party bill that was voted on by the legislative branch.
The other bill will be a bill that the teacher passed through
with a previous group to have a veggie bash instead of a
pajama party.
2. The executive branch will then discuss these 2 bills by
passing around the microphone. One student who is The
 President will have the final say and may VETO one or
more of the bills.
3. After everyone has had the chance to discuss, the president
will make the decision to VETO the veggie bash bill and
pass the pajama party bill to make it a law.

VII. Closure
a. The closure will begin with the class discussing what they just witnessed.
i. How did the process work?
ii. Did you think it ran smoothly?
iii. How well would this work with a real life bill?
b. The group will talk about how the bills went through each of the branches
of government and eventually one came out as a law.
c. As a formative assessment, the students will have an exit ticket where thy
must write yes or no if they thought that the system gave each branch an
equal opportunity with the bills. If students say no, this will give the teacher
information saying that the students did not see the benefit in the branch
system. If that occurs, the teacher will try to address the concept more in
the closing days lesson.

Meeting All Learners

VIII. Differentiation
a. The students will be placed into 3 groups strategically so that they have
mixed abilities and strengths in each group. The students who are quieter
will be given a voice in every group. The students who like to talk a lot will
have the opportunity to talk, but will also be required to give others a
chance with the use of the talking stick and podium.
b. Multiple intelligences will be met through the different activities of the
lesson.
i. The anticipatory set will include visual, logical and musical
components. The musical and visual components will be
incorporated through the music video. The logical component will
be through the lesson on checks and balances.
ii. The instructional activity will include kinesthetic, visual, linguistic
and interpersonal. The kinesthetic will be through the movement
and role-play. The visual will be through the students watching
each other doing a role-play. The linguistic part of the activity will be
the discussion had throughout. The interpersonal will be through
 the voting in each branch when the students have to think internally
and make a decision.
iii. The closure will incorporate linguistic and logical intelligences. The
linguistic will be in the discussion afterwards. The logical will be
with the exit ticket question that the children will complete.

IX. Accommodations
a. Student who has an IEP/504 to sit close to the front of the room, will be
placed in the same spot for each of the rotations for the branches.

X. Modifications
a. Student who has an IEP/504 stating that they need extra time when
completing a written assignment will be verbally asked the exit ticket
question instead of writing down an answer.

Meeting Objectives
XI. Assessments
a. The discussions throughout the lesson and the exit ticket will give the
teacher an idea of the students understanding of the topic (Objectives a
and b)
b. The simulation will give the teacher the knowledge of the students
understanding of the concept and how the branches function (Objective c)