TITLE: The Legislative Branch (2.

5 Day Lesson)

SOL: CE.6a: The students will demonstrate knowledge of the American constitutional
government at the national level by describing the structure and powers of the national
government.

CONTEXT OF LESSON: This lesson will be a part of the federal government unit. Previous to
this lesson, the students will have gotten an overview of the three branches of government
(legislative, executive, and judicial). Now, we are diving deeper into just the legislative branch,
focusing on the structure of the branch as well as the different powers. Following this lesson, we
will continue with discussing the process of one of the legislative branch’s powers: how a bill
becomes a law. Since this is such a large unit, there will be a quiz on only the legislative branch
before moving on to talking about the executive branch.

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES:
● Students will be able to explain the structure of the legislative branch
● Students will be able to identify/apply the powers of the legislative branch

MATERIALS:
● I Am Poem
● Article/Vocab/Guided Reading
● Foldable
● Skit Materials
● Chromebooks
● Document Camera
● Highlighters/Colored Pencils

LESSON BODY AND SEQUENCE:

Time (approx.) Teacher Actions Student Actions

10 Minutes (I The day before this lesson, I did an
Am Poem) overview of the three branches of
government. In order to review those, I will
have table groups complete an I Am Poem.
I will randomly assign each table a branch
of government and they will be able to use
their notes from the day before to fill in the
blanks. Once the groups have completed
their poems, I will ask one member from
The students will be assigned
one of the three branches of
government. With their group
members, they will complete
the I Am Poem. When
finished, groups will pick one
student to share their poem
out loud.
 each group to share aloud with the class. I
will listen for/correct any misconceptions.
15 Minutes I will direct students to turn to their
(Article/Vocab) legislative article/vocab in their interactive
notebooks. The article will be providing
students with information on the structures
as well as the powers of the legislative
branch. As students are reading,
highlighting, and completing vocabulary, I
will be circulating the room to answer any
questions that groups may have.
5 Minutes I will walk through the foldable set up with
(Legislative my students. I will already have a copy of
Foldable Set the foldable made so students can use that
Up) as their example.
15 Minutes I will assign each table group a page of the
(Work on foldable for which they are responsible for.
Foldable) I will direct students to find their page on
the directions, which tells students
everything they need to include on their
specific page. Students are able to use their
article as well as notes from the day before
to complete their page. I will also make it
clear to students that they need to show me
a “rough draft” of their work before
transferring it onto the foldable. When I
give them the approval, students can go
ahead and transfer.
Wrap Up I will ask groups to give me a quick thumbs
(Check Up) up, thumbs in the middle, or thumbs down
on how close they are to finishing their part
of the foldable. This will tell me who I will
need to help/assist the next day.
END OF DAY 1
Time Teacher Actions
5 Minutes (Finish I will instruct students to finish their page
Foldable) of the foldable from the day before. At this
Students will turn to their
legislative article in their
notebooks. In their table
groups, students will take
turns reading through the
article/highlighting along with
the guided reading.
Students will set up their
individual foldables, using the
teacher’s example as a guide.
Each group of students will
receive a page for which they
are responsible for on the
foldable. Students will refer
to their page on the directions
sheet and fill out the required
information for their page.
Groups can use their article to
complete the information and
must show me their draft
before transferring it to their
foldable.
Groups will give me a thumbs
up, thumbs down, thumbs in
the middle, indicating how
much more time they need on
their foldable.
Student Actions
Students will take the first
five minutes of class to finish
 time, I will be sure to assist the groups who
gave me a thumbs in the middle or thumbs
down and get these students caught up and
ready to present.
20-25 Minutes I will have each group take turns (starting
(Present with group 1 and ending with group 6)
Foldable) going up to the front of the class to present
their foldable. I will ask all students from
the group to go up, but only one student in
the group will have to share. As they share,
other groups will fill out that page in their
individual foldable. During this, I will also
ask some additional questions to the class.
15 Minutes Once the students have completed their
(Assign/Prepare notes on the legislative foldable, I will
Skits assign each table group a different power
that the legislative branch has (declaring
war, veto a law, making a law, approve
annual budget, etc.). I will have each group
prepare a skit (no less than a minute) that
shows their assigned power. I will also
instruct the group not to specifically state
their power in their skit because at the end,
others will have to guess the power.
END OF DAY 2
Time Teacher Actions
10-15 Minutes I will have students finish their skits. I will
(Finish/Present then have them come up and act out their
Skits) skits. As they are doing that, I will, along
with the other students, will write down the
power that is being acted out.
5-10 Minutes I will instruct students to open up their
(Formative chromebooks and follow the link to the
Check) google form. Here, they will complete a
formative check on the legislative branch
powers. They will do this without their notes.
I will be able to use the information that I
the foldable from the previous
day.
Each group will take turns
going up to the front of the
class and presenting their
page. One student from each
group will have to share the
information, but all group
members must go up. Other
students will write the
information on their own
foldable.
The table groups will be each
assigned a different power
that the legislative branch has.
They will work on preparing
a skit in order to show that
power.
Student Actions
Students will finish their
skits. Each group will present
their skits while their peers
guess the power.
Students will open up their
chromebooks and complete
the google form, which
checks on their understanding
of the legislative branch
powers. Students will do this
 gather from this to see what I may need to without their notes.
review in the next day’s lesson.

END OF LESSON

MEETING THE NEEDS OF ALL STUDENTS:

For Students who are Struggling to Master Content/ELL Students: Students are
purposefully groups heterogeneously. Those who are struggling with the content will have the
assistance of their peers as well as the teacher as they are working through the assignments. ELL
students will be placed in groups with students who are patient and have been known to show
good leadership skills during group work.

For Students who are Quickly Mastering Content: These students may be able to help their
peers who are struggling more with the concepts during the lesson.

USE OF TECHNOLOGY:
● Chromebooks used to fill out the google form at the end of the lesson
● Document camera used to present pages of the foldable