12th Grade- Government

Foundations of American Democracy

Arly Rodriguez
 Day 2: Day 3:
The Executive The Judicial Branch
Branch Article III of the
What we will be doing
Article II of the Constitution
this week: Constitution Supreme Court
Day 1:
The Legislative Day 4: Day 5:
Branch State Governments Class Discussion
Article I of the Does the Federal
Constitution Comparing the Government have
Federal & State too much power?
Government
The Executive Branch
 Essential Questions
- What are the powers granted to the
Executive Branch?
- What are the different roles of the
President?
- How does the Executive Branch affect us?
 Learning Targets
- I can explain what are the powers granted to the
Executive Branch
- I can explain the different roles of the President
- I can describe how the Executive Branch affects
us
 Do now: Think, Pair
What is your opinion of
& Share our current President Joe
Biden, do you think he has
jo

been doing an effective

job?
 Roles of the President:
•Chief Executive: Enforces the laws of the nation 
•Chief Legislator: Power to sign a bill or veto a bill 
•Chief Diplomat: Building diplomatic relations with
foreign nations 
Ex: Foreign leaders visiting the white house 
•Chief of Party: Leader of their political party 
•Chief of State: The president serves as the leader
of the nation 
•Chief Citizen: Represents all United States citizens
•Commander-in- Chief: Control over the military 
 Article II- Scavenger Hunt
- Using your own copy of Article II of the Constitution you
will be answering the questions and statements on your
worksheet
-You will independently answer the questions (15 mins) 
- Then, with your group you will discuss your answers and
make sure you all have the correct answers (10 mins) 
 
 Key Points
- Article II is about the President of the United States 
- The Presidents and Vice President's term is four years
- The Presidents win the election through the electoral college not the popular
vote 
- Only natural born citizens of the United States can be presidents 
-If a President is removed, resigns, dies or is incapable of their position the Vice
-President will take over as acting President 
-The President is the Commander in Chief of the military 
-President plays a major role in foreign affairs and diplomacy 
-President has the power to Sign or Veto bills (Checks & Balances) 
 
 Homework Directions
•For your homework assignment search for one current events article that involves the Executive branch and write a
paragraph explaining it. 
•Suggestions for websites to look for an article:
• https://www.nytimes.com/
• https://www.cnn.com/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/
• https://www.foxnews.com

*It is important to remember that each news article can have a bias 
•You must include the following: 
1.Title of the article & author's name 
2.The main idea of the article (What is the article about?)
1.  *Remember to put it in your own words 
3.What is the role of the Executive branch in this article? How is this role significant to the event? 
4.Include at least one direct quotation from the article and a proper citation (Author’s last name, year of when the
article was published) ex. (Rodriguez, 2022) 
 Criteria for Success
For this assignment, a full credit response (2 points) includes the following:
•Includes the title of the article and the author’s name 
•Describes the main idea of the article in their own words
•Accurately describes the role of the Executive Branch in the article 
•Includes at least one direct quote from the article and a proper citation (Author’s
last name, year of publication) 
For this assignment, a partial credit response (1 point) includes the following: 
•Does not include the title of the article or the author’s name 
•Partially describes the main idea of the article 
•Partially describes the role of the Executive Branch  in the article 
•Does not include a direct quote from the reading 
 How does the
Exit Slip:
Executive
Branch affect us?