Lesson Plan Details Checks and Balances, 7, Malinda Rossi

Expected Duration: 45 Minutes

Social Sciences: Civics, History
Concepts: Checks and Balances
Vocabulary:
Legislative Branch: makes the laws
Executive Branch: approves the laws
Judicial Branch: decides if laws are fair
Skills:Identification Skills, Problem Solving
Goals: How the three branches work together to make the
government work peacefully

Integration of Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to recall the three branches of government.
Students will be able to describe how powers are separated
among the three branches.
Students will be able to explain the process of checks and
balances.
PA Standards
Standard - 5.3.4.A
Identify the roles of the three branches of government.
NCSS Themes

Power, Authority and Governance

Anticipatory Set
To activate background knowledge as well as introduce the
lesson, I will play the song Three Ring Government from
Schoolhouse Rock.
I will pass out lyrics to the song so the students have the
opportunity to read along as they listen to the song. Giving
students the opportunity to listen to the video, watch the video
as well as read the lyrics, most of the different learning styles my
students may have will be touched upon.
Procedures

Boys and girls can everyone come meet me on the carpet ready
to learn and with their thinking caps on!
Who can remind me of the three branches of government?
o Student response Legislative, Judicial and Executive
o I will write the three branches on the board as the
students say them out loud. This gives visual
learners a way to see the word as well as hear it.
Good job! And who can tell me the power each branch has?
o Student responses will vary.
o The legislative branch makes the laws, the executive
branch approves the laws and the judicial branch decides if
the laws are fair.
o I will write the powers of each branch on the board
as well.
Now what do you think would happen if one branch had all the
power?
o Student responses will vary.
Thats right, if each branch didnt have specific powers, one
branch may have too much power
I have prepared a scale as well as three blocks. Each block is
labeled and represents one branch of the government.
Lets look at this scale. If we put the executive branch and
legislative branch on one side of the scale, and the judicial
branch on the other side, is the scale equal?
o Student response No, its not equal
If we switch the blocks and put the legislative branch and
judicial branch on this side of the scale and the executive branch
on the other side, the scale is still not equal.
Over time, our government has realized that all three branches
need to be balanced and share equal powers, they needed the
scale to be even on both sides. This is the reason for each branch
having specific powers. Each branch has the restriction over the
other two branches to make sure everything stays fair; this is
called checks and balances.
Now that we have a basic understanding of what the process of
checks and balances entails, lets head back to our seats and
were going to do an activity as a class. The process of a bill
becoming a law is an example of when checks and balances is
used.
I have prepared the following activity as an in class simulation to
show the students how each branch can restrict or approve the
decisions the other branches have made. I will split the class in
to three groups. There are 30 students in the class so 10
students will be in each group. One group of 10 students will

represent the House of Representatives (legislative branch), one

group of 10 students will represent the Senate (legislative
branch), and the last group of 10 students will represent the
executive branch.
Now boys and girls, I want to remind you on how a bill becomes
a law, lets take a look at the chart I have put up on the board
I have made a flow chart on a large piece of paper that I will
display on the board. The flow chart is as follows The bill is
presented to the legislative branch, both the House and Senate
must approve, the bill is then presented to the executive branch,
if the bill is approved by the president it becomes a law. I will
pick one student to present the bill to the legislative, one group
at a time, first the House and then the Senate then they will
bring the bill to the executive branch and it will become a law.
After the simulation of a bill successfully becoming a law, I will
show the process of a bill being vetoed by the President.
We have just seen a bill successfully becoming a law, now were
going to see what happens if a bill is not passed by the
President.
I have created a flow chart for a bill being vetoed by the
President. The flow chart is as follows The bill is presented to
the legislative branch, both the House and Senate must approve,
the bill is then presented to the executive branch, the President
vetoed the bill so it goes back to the legislative branch, the
legislative branch can vote to ignore the President and then pass
the bill so it becomes a law.
By providing the simulation as well as the flow chart on the
board, students of different learning abilities and styles hopefully
will be able to fully understand how checks and balances applies
to a bill becoming a law.
As we just saw in this activity, the executive branch and the
legislative branch keep each other in balance in the process of a
making a bill a law. There are many other times when the
branches keep each other in balance and we will see a few in the
last activity of the day.
I found a worksheet via the following website which I will offer to
the students who want a challenge. I have also created a
variation of the worksheet that is not as challenging. The
purpose of this worksheet is to review how the branches keep
each other in check and ensure that one branch does not have
too much power.
https://www.trumanlibrary.org//whistlestop/teacher_lesso
ns/3branches/6.htm

As a last activity, Im going to have you work on this worksheet

with a partner of your choice. However if I see you are not
working I will send you back to your seats to work by yourself
Once you have picked your partner, come up and get your
worksheet. If you and your partner want a challenge, I have a
harder worksheet for you to try!
While the students are working on the worksheets, I will be
circulating to ensure that the students have a basic
understanding of the topic taught today.
Once you are done with the worksheet and think all your
answers are right, bring it to my desk and then you can silent
read until everyone has finished
Differentiation
Because every student has a different learning style, I planned
the anticipatory set so every student can learn effectively. I have
provided a visual of the video on screen, the auditory for the
video, as well as a hand out of the lyrics.
In the beginning of the lesson, I review the branches of the
government as well as the basic powers of each branch. I will
write these on the board as the students say them so the visual
learners in my class can see them as they hear them.
The two variations of the worksheet I have provided allow
students of varying levels feel comfortable completing the
activity. Students on a lower level will have a chance to review
the topic discussed in class but in a way that they will
understand. For my students who are on a higher level, I will
challenge them by giving them the more difficult worksheet. The
more difficult worksheet will require the students to fill out the
powers of each branch. The easier worksheet will have the
students fill out the branch based on the powers listed.
Closure
Has everyone handed in their worksheets?
o Student response Yes
Can everyone put their silent reading books away so we can
discuss what we learned today? Who can tell me the three
branches of government? (Allow adequate wait time then call on
a student) Why does each branch have specific powers? (Allow
adequate wait time then call on a student) And now, who can
explain to me the process of checks and balances? (Allow
adequate wait time then call on a student) Good job boys and
girls, it seems like we learned a lot today!

Formative/Summative Assessments

Formative Assessment: I will be observing the students

throughout the lesson to assess their understanding of the topic
being taught today. I will also assess their background knowledge
on the branches of government and their powers, which we
learned yesterday.
Summative Assessment: I will collect the worksheet from the
students, correct and return them to the students. By collecting
the worksheets, I can get a feel for my students understanding of
the lesson. If there seems to be confusion, I will spend time the
next day reviewing the topic. The worksheet requires the
students to recall the branches of government because they
must identify the roles of each. The students will physically
represent how each branch has separate powers as well as
represent how the branches keep each other in balance.
Materials
Lyrics of Schoolhouse Rock song
Scale
Three blocks (each labeled to represent one branch of
government)
Paper representing a bill
Flow chart for bill becoming a law successfully
Flow chart for bill being vetoed by the President
Balance of government worksheet (Both variations)
Technology
Schoolhouse Rock Three Ring Government YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEPd98CbbMk
Reflection on Planning
Looking back on my lesson, I feel that it is well developed and
well thought out. I think starting with the Schoolhouse Rock video will
benefit the students a great deal. In our unit lesson plan, the students
would have already learned about the three branches so this video will
effectively activate their background knowledge as well as transition
into the new idea, which is checks and balances. I believe that it is well
developed because I spend time reviewing what the students have
previously learned and then applying that to the new topic.

I hope that the activity with the scale will be a potential success.
I think it will do a good job of physically representing to the students
how the scale needs to be balanced in order for the government to run
smoothly. One of my concerns for my lesson is the in class simulation.
In my head it sounds like a good idea and I can visualize it being done
in the classroom, but looking back at it on paper it may confuse the
children a little bit.