I.

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Lesson plan overview and description

40 minutes
U.S. National Government
The Legislative Branch of Government, passing a Bill
Bill, Law, Veto
Act out the process of passing a Bill in the Legislative branch
of government
The Students will be able to describe the process of passing a
Bill in the Legislative Branch of government through acting
out the process.

II.
Content Outline
A. The Legislative Branch of Government
Roles of the Legislative Branch
o Congress: Senate and House of Reps
o Makes nations laws
o Juggles bills
o Can overturn vetos
o Impeach president
o Decide taxes
o Approve budget
o Approve or reject presidents appointments
o Declares war
Process of passing a Bill in the Legislative Branch
o Citizens
o House of Representatives
o Senate
o President
o Veto or Pass
III.

Standards
1. PDE SAS Standards- civics/government
5.3.3.A= 5. Civics and Government. 3. How Government
Works. 3. GRADE 3. A. Identify the roles of the three branches
of government.
2. NCSS Themes and Subthemes
X.A. = X. Civic Ideals and Practices. A. Assist learners in
understanding the origins and continuing influence of key
ideals of the democratic republican form of government, such
as individual human dignity, liberty, justice, equality, and the
rule of law

IV.

Lesson Objective
1. The students will be able to describe the process of how a bill
is passed and becomes a law.

2. The students will be able to demonstrate the process of how

a bill is passed and becomes a law.
V.

Teaching Procedures
1. Anticipatory Set/ Introduction
To engage the students in this lesson the class will begin by
reviewing what they learned about the Legislative Branch
in the previous lesson. Then the class will watch a short
video that briefly explains the process of how a Bill turns
into a law.
2. Lesson Input
The teacher will begin by telling the students that today
they will be acting out the process of how a Bill is
passed and turned into a law.
To introduce the lesson, the teacher will ask the
questions What is a law?, What is a bill? and What
does it mean to veto? and provide an answer if
students are not able to.
The teacher will tell the students the process of how a
bill becomes a law while the students follow along and
number the different strips of paper they have with one
step listed on each of them.
3. Guided Practice
The teacher will tell the students that the first step is
that a bill starts as an idea from a citizen. The second
step is the citizen will send this idea to the House of
Representatives. The third step is a member of the
House of Representatives will then take this idea and
create a bill. The fourth step includes the Bill being
placed into the hopper. The fifth step is the rest of the
House of Representatives reading the bill. The sixth step
includes The House of Representatives voting on the
bill. If the bill is passed, the seventh step includes the
bill being sent to the Senate. The eighth step includes
the senate voting. If the bill passes, the ninth step
includes sending the bill to the president. The tenth and
final step includes the President deciding to veto or pass
the bill and make it a law.
The teacher will observe students placing the step strips
in the correct order.
To challenge different learners the teacher may ask
them if they can remember from the video what step

comes next or even if they can guess what step comes

next by reading their strips.
The teacher will place the students at random into
different roles. One student will be assigned the citizen,
one student will be the individual House of
Representatives member, a group of students will be
the House of Representatives, a group of students will
be the Senate, and one student will be the president.
The teacher tells the students that they will act out the
bill-passing scenario with a made up law of their own.
The teacher starts the activity off by telling the
students to use their strips as a reminder of what
comes next and asks the citizen to think of an idea and
tells the action to begin.
4. Independent Practice
The students will go step by step through this
process with their own ideas and thoughts and act
out the roles they were assigned.
5. Differentiation
This lesson will be accommodated according to each
individuals learning and behavioral needs.
6. Closure
The students will be given a follow up worksheet with
the steps listed on one side and the step numbers
listed on the other. The students will have to identify
the correct order of how a bill is passed and becomes
a law.
VI.

Teacher and Student Resources and Evaluation of Resources

A. Student Reading Resources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=tyeJ55o3El0
B. Teacher Reading Resources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=tyeJ55o3El0, http://kids.clerk.house.gov/younglearners/lesson.html?intID=31, Kids.klerk.house.gov
C. Evaluation of Teacher Resources

Resource Title

Influence

Characteristics

Accessibility

Overall Rating

https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=tyeJ55o3El0

MI

Informative,
reliable,
engaging

All

Great
introductory for
topic

http://kids.clerk.house.gov/youn
g-learners/lesson.html?intID=31

SI

Kids.klerk.house.gov

SI

Organized,
informative,
step by step
Informative,
reliable,
provided idea
for lesson

All

Great to help
guide discussion

all

Helped plan the

lesson

VII.

Formative and Summative Assessment of Students

Formative assessment will consist of the teacher
observing if each student places the step strips in the
correct order during the description of how a bill is
turned into a law. This is an informal way to make
sure that all students are on track, paying attention,
and understanding the new information coming in.
The summative assessment will consist of students
taking a follow up quiz that has them identify the
order of the steps.
The checklist for this assessment will include
Can the student identify 1-2 steps out of 10 in the
correct order?
Can the Can the student identify 3-4 steps out of 10
in the correct order?
Can the student identify 5-6 steps out of 10 in the
correct order?
Can the student identify 7-8 steps out of 10 in the
correct order?
Can the student identify 9-10 steps out of 10 in the
correct order?

VIII.

Technology/Materials/Equipment
10 step strips for each student
Smartboard
Follow up worksheet for each student
Pencils for each student
Im Just a Bill YouTube video

IX.

Reflection on Planning
This is the second lesson focusing on branches of
government. The previous lesson included discussion of the
executive, legislative, and judicial. This lesson furthers the
knowledge of the studets about the legislative branch but in
particular the major role that this branch does. This lesson
focuses on the process of how a Bill is passed and turned into
a law. I feel that the way I set up this lesson will really allow
the students to understand the information. Not only will they

learn the material, they are acting out this material. This
continues their knowledge about the National Government
and what they do. This was an easier lesson to plan because I
knew that I wanted the students to physically do the job of the
legislative branch. There were many steps to the main
process in this lesson, so repetition of information was key.
The potential challenges with this lesson may be that students
get the steps mixed up.