EGP 335.

535 Lesson Plan

Dr. Leaman, Spring 2017

Lesson Plan Details So what is our Local Government? 10, Danielle Keller
Expected Duration (45 minutes)
Social Sciences
Concepts
o What is Local government?
o Who is in our local government
o What are the different parts of local government?
o What do they do?
o How do they decide what gets passed and what doesnt
o School Board
o Mock school board meeting
Vocabulary and operational definition
o Sheriff- elected officer in a county who is responsible for keeping peace
o County treasurers- a person in charge of recipet, care and disbursement
of money
o Tax assessor- a local government official who determine the value of
property for local real estate taxation purposes
o Constables- a police officer with limited policing authority, typically in a
small town
o Municipal government is the public administration of a township,
village, borough, city or town
o School board is a group of people who are elected to make decsions
about how to manage a school.
o Mayor is the elected head of a city or a town
Skills
o Skills students will learn
How a school board meeting works
How to vote on something
Goals of Lesson
o Goals of this lesson to teach and inform students about how the local government
works. Focusing specifically on the school board because that directly effects
them.
Integration of Learning Outcomes/Objectives
Students will be able to explain and demonstrate verbally what a local government is and
how their local government affects them.
Students will be able to define what a mayor is and what he does for the town.
Students will be able to verbally demonstrate the types of things a schoolboard does.
Students will be able to apple the their knowledge of social government in the outside
world by demonstrating their knowledge that it takes time for big things to happen
anywhere.

Standards PA Civics, History, Economics, Geography &

NCSS Themes I - X with subthemes
 5.1.4.B Explain rules and laws for the classroom, school, community, and state.
5.1.4.C Explain the principles and ideals shaping local and state government.
5.2.4.C Describe the roles of leadership and public service in school, community, state,
and nation.
5.2.4.D Describe how citizens participate in school and community activities.
I. Culture and Cultural Diversity NCSS.1.1.a
IV Individual Development and Identity NCSS.1.4.a
VI Power, Authority, and Governance NCSS.1.6.a
X Civic Ideals and Practices NCSS.1.10.d

Anticipatory Set
Today class, you are going to be learning about local government. More specifically our school
board. Today you will get to take part in a mock school board meeting and you will see how
decisions are made for our school. Decisions such as what class gets Ipads, restoring the
playground, and who pays for the supplies in our classes. I think you all will really enjoy the
mock meeting because you can see how we get the desks we have, and our class ipads and so on!
Remember, Yesterday we talked about our State government, and learned how all that works, and
so today we will be learning about how our local government works!
Procedures

** Throughout this lesson the teacher teaching the lesson should anticipate answers and
adjust the discussion to adapt to the needs through formative assessment. The teacher
should use the childrens answers during the discussion to gage their understanding of the
material being taught about local government This will allows the teacher to monitor
students progress.**
1. Teacher will first go over all vocab words and explain that these are all terms that will be
on the end of unit test.
2. Teacher will first hand out worksheets to students who need extra support, (IEP or ELL)
3. Who can tell me what Sheriff is?
4. Who can tell me what a constable is?
5. Can anyone tell me what a municipal government is?
6. Can anyone tell me what any of these have in common ?
o Expect students to give answers that have to do with police force.
7. Teacher will then DEFINE all words that have to do with local government- all the key
vocab words- some of these words touch base on words from the state government lesson
8. Alright boys and girls. Can anyone tell me who the mayor of our town is?
o Wait for students to answer if they dont tell them who it is
Great job, now, can anyone tell what a mayor is ?
o The elected head of a city, town, or other municipality.
Now I have a harder question, can any of you think of what it is a Mayor does?
o Anticipate students to say something like run the town and make decisions.
Alright boys and girls a mayor traditionally oversees a cities main departments. Now
when I say departments can any of you take a guess the different departments to a town?
Ill give you a hint, it has to do with people who keep us safe!
o Anticipate students to say police, and fire fighters!
Thats right boys and girls! And along with that, the mayor oversees police, fire,
education housing and transportation departments. Now when I say transportation
departments do I mean he looks over your parents car? Or is it the public transportation
like busses, and trains!
 o Busses and trains !
So I know we know what a police officer and a fire fighter does but who can tell me what
a school board does?
o Anticipate answers like teaches student, choose lunches etc.
9. Those are some FANTASTIC answers! I love how all of you are using your thinking caps
and really thinking hard about our local government. For the next few minutes I am
going to discuss and then show you a video of a school board meeting!
Alright, so a school board is a local board of authority responsible for the provision and
maintenance of schools. So provision means the act of providing or supplying something
for use. So basically, a school board is responsible for providing our schools with the
necessary supplies to make our school work the best it can while also maintaining
maintenance of the school.
Now when I say necessary supplies I mean they pay for most of what is in our school.
Who can name some thing they think the school board pays for?
o Chairs, books, desks, food.
Great job, they pay for almost everything, our desks, books, chairs, my desk, our
playground and our class set of Ipads. However, they also must pay to keep up with
maintenance. For example, has something in your house ever broke and your parents
hire someone to come in and fix it? Well the school board does the same thing, if a toilet
breaks or the air isnt working, the school board is responsible for fixing it, as well as
maintaining school grounds and making sure all of you stay safe!
Along with this the school board has school board meetings. These meeting occur a
couple times a year. All of the town is invited to come so we can see what our tax money
gets used for.
I know last class we talked about how we have state tax but we also have tax that we
taxed for living in our town, these taxes pay for all of you smarties to go to school and it
also pays for the school budget. So each year I along with every other teacher gets a
budget. With this budget we buy things for our classroom. For example, each year I
buy pens and pencils, and paper, so you guys have something to write with and on. Then I
buy new posters to hang on the wall that you guys can read and look at to for motivation
and reference!
Now I am going to show you all a quick video that will explain what a school board is
and does!
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9UmAtGS3wE
Class will watch video !
11. Now I am going to hand out a script to a school board meeting we are read together!
Each of you will have a role, either as a parent of a member of the board! Remember to
follow along and if you need any help with any words I am here to help! Lets set our
desk up in a circle!
12. First we are going to read this script and then I will let you make up your own!
13.
https://www.niri.org/NIRI/media/NIRI/sampledocs/Annual-Meeting-Sample-Script.pdf

Read script over projector and then assign roles to the class
14. I am going to give 10 of you an issue that may be going on in a school, and I want you
the board to help you come to an answer. Since our class only has 18 students there will
be 8 board member and 10 parents! Each parent will have an issue and get to debate
it with a board member and each board member will be able to discuss the issue!
Remember this is pretend and we are to be nice always!
 15. Teacher will monitor student progress by observing them during the mock school boar
meeting. If the students are truly understanding the concept of local government this
activity should just further enhance their knowledge. The teacher will anticipate answers
and adjust the discussion to adapt to the needs through formative assessment. The teacher
will then use the students answers to gage their understanding of local government.

Differentiation

The needs of all students will be met through various ways. The students who need extra support
will receive a worksheet with a chart or graphic organizer explaining all the roles of local
government focusing specifically on the school board.

For students who need more of a challenge they will have more roles during the mock school
board election to allow them an opportunity to challenge themselves further.

For students who have IEPs, I will give them a graphic organizer as well to allow them to follow
along during the lesson and allowing them to visually see the lesson as well as hear it.

For English language learners, I will have a worksheet with the lesson summarized in their
language linking it to what I am saying so they follow along and still grasp the main idea of the
lesson.
Closure
Alright boys and girls, I want to thank each one of you for participating in this mock school
board meeting! It was great to see you all so involved in learning how decisions are made for our
schools! Remember, a local government is what we see around town. It is our mayor, and our
police force, as well as our school! When we think local we think, near us! Same goes as last
week when we learned about state government we knew it was talking about every town in the
state having to follow a certain law. Who can tell me what a mayor is again?

Anticipate students to say something like: the leader of a town.

Who can tell me what the different between a sheriff and a constable is?

Anticipate students to tell you that sheriff is the head of police while a constable has very little
authority.

Great job boys and girls, you all did an amazing job and I am super proud of you! I love how all
of you learned some of what goes into getting the things we have in our school and our
classroom. I am going to hand out our exit slips! Read carefully the directions on it and when
your done I want you to put it in the turn it in work bin.

Next class we will be learning about some of the most notable presidents!

Formative/Summative Assessment of Students (P-12)

Formative Assessment
Turn and talk- This will allows all students to participate in the discussion about local
government, instead of just a few students volunteering to give the answer. During the turn and
talk the teacher will walk around and listen to make sure every students is on the right path of
discussion. I am using a turn and talk because it allows the teacher to listen in on the children
actual understanding of what was taught and listen to them put it in their own words.
Summative Assessment
I will summativly asses the kids by looking at their accuracy on their portrayal of assigned roles
during the mock school board meeting. Teacher will keep track on a check list with the students
name who was able to demonstrate their understanding of how a local government works through
the mock school board meeting..

For a second summative assessment, the students will complete an exit slip with the Question:
List 3 things you learned about how the local government affects you, whether its through school
or your community. ( Exit slip attached below, cut and half and hand one to each student)

Objectives:
Students will be able to explain and demonstrate verbally what a local government is and
how their local government affects them.
Students will be able to define what a mayor is and what he does for the town.
Students will be able to verbally demonstrate the types of things a schoolboard does.
Students will be able to apple the their knowledge of social government in the outside
world by demonstrating their knowledge that it takes time for big things to happen
anywhere.

Materials/Equipment
Document viewer
Extra support worksheets ( Labled ESW in top right corner)
Computer
Mock trial script
Youtube video
Marker
White boards
Exit slips

Student Materials
Students will need:
Pencils
Exit slips
Extra support worksheets ( for students who needs it- just has definitions on it. )

Teacher note sheet with references

Attached below

Technology
Technology that will be used while implementing this lesson is a smart board and a document
camera. I will also be using a YouTube video to help students understand local government a little
more. By using this technology I am hoping to enhance my instruction by including a visual
aspect and a more auditory aspect for all my learners. I also plan on using the computer to pullup
the school board election script to review with students.
Reflection on Planning
I found planning this lesson to be difficult. It was hard to find a task that was age appropriate,
made sense , and was capable of captivating the students attention in a way appropriate for the
classroom. IE, not causing them to run around in chaos pretending to be a police officer. I ended
up reaching out to three of my old history teachers from when I was in elementary, middle and
high school. Each one gave me different tips and tricks, such as the mock school board meeting.
The best advice I was given was not to plan the lesson in a way that makes it boring, for example
I was told to add all the great jobs, because it reminds you as your glancing at the lesson to praise
the students and allow them to know you appreciate them participating. The other advice I really
liked and plan on implementing when I have my own class is an extra support worksheet. I will
give this to all of some of the students allowing them time to look at it and use it for reference, to
further help them understand the materials Im teaching. This will really help the students who
need the extra support because it will provide them with a visual. The potential successes of my
lesson in my eyes was to have an eye opening mock school board meeting. While it is always a
goal to have your students understand everything, and grasp the concepts and ideas you are
teaching them, it is my personal teaching philosophy to teach children how to be productive
members of society so when they do grow up, which they will, they will be able to contribute to
our town. My goal of this lesson personally was to have students learn that the things on our
school dont just magically appear, they are paid a lot of things must happen in order for things
like class ipads to be in our classroom. However once the students grasp this idea it also shows
that they understand there is a system to things happening, which allows them to further
understand what a local government is. My concerns for lesson implementation is that things just
wont make sense. However I feel this with every lesson I teach. I am worried that I will try to
teach it and nothing will make sense. With this lesson particularly I am worried that students
wont be able to come up with things to talk about during the school board meeting. Is that
happens I would plan on jumping in with some suggestions of things parents want to have happen
in the school such as, new lights, new tables, new desks, better lunches etc. When I wrote this
lesson I spent a lot of time thinking and visualizing and actually practicing teaching it and the
things I would say and how I would move about my classroom in ways to insure all my students
will understand the content I am teaching.

Lesson Plan Element Point Value

40 points total

Lesson Plan Details 2

Integration of Learning Outcomes/Objectives 3

Standards PA Civics, History, Economics, Geography & NCSS 3

Theme/subtheme

Anticipatory Set 2

Procedures 6

Differentiation 2

Closure 2
Formative/Summative Assessment of Students (P-12) 3

Materials/Equipment , Citation of Sources 2

Technology

Reflection on Planning

Teacher Content Notes 10

Global Current Event 5

 Exit Slip!!!
Name: _______________

List 3 things you learned about how the local government affects you, whether its through school
or your community

1.

2.

3.

Exit Slip!!!
Name: _______________

List 3 things you learned about how the local government affects you, whether its through school
or your community

1.

2.

3.

Sample school board meeting

 ESW

Sheriff- elected officer in a county who is responsible for keeping peace

County treasurers- a person in charge of receipt , care and disbursement of money

Tax assessor- a local government official who determine the value of property for local
real estate taxation purposes

Constables- a police officer with limited policing authority, typically in a small town

Municipal government is the public administration of a township, village, borough, city

or town

School board is a group of people who are elected to make decisions about how to
manage a school.

Mayor is the elected head of a city or a town

Unit Plan Fact Sheet

Local Government Facts and lesson ideas

Public administration of town, cities , counties, and districts
Runs city utilities, public pools, libraries local law enforcement , fire
departments
All local governments derive their authority from the state in which they
live in
As citizen we have much more contact with local government than we do
state government
o Bicycle laws: a bicycle law typically states that you must abide by all
traffic laws- stop at stop signs, use signals etc.
o Helmet laws: Helmet laws state if under a certain age (18) you must
wear a helmet while riding anything with wheels.
o Curfew: a regulation requiring people to remain indoors between
specified hours- typically at night
o Noise regulation- you must keep noise to a minimum after certain
times, typically at night.
County government is the public administration of a county, borough or
parish
o Sheriff- elected officer in a county who is responsible for keeping
peace
o County treasurers- a person in charge of recipet, care and
disbursement of money
o Tax assessor- a local government official who determine the value of
property for local real estate taxation purposes
o Constables- a police officer with limited policing authority, typically
in a small town
Municipal government is the public administration of a township, village,
borough, city or town
o Parks and recreation- oversee public parks and recreational public
works- town playgrounds etc.
o Police- the civil force of national or local government, responsible for
the prevention and detection of crime and maintenance of public order.
o Fire department- the department of local or municipal authority in
charge of preventing and fighting fires
o
Town- an urban area that has a name, defined boundaries, and a local
government, and that it generally larger than a village and smaller than a city.
o Curfews, helmet laws, etc., mayor
School board-
o decides what you learn, what teachers to hire, what to pay teachers
 Town meetings: All voters meet to decide basic policy and elect officials to
carry out those policies (NLC)
Real examples of local government:
Four types:
Counties
o Largest political sub divisions, primary function is to administer the state
laws within their borders. Among other duties they also keep the peace,
maintain jails, collect taxes, build and repair bridges and roads, and record
deeds, marriages and deaths
Townships
o These units of governments do not exist in half the states and have
different responsibilities in those that have them. A Township may simply
be another name for a town or city of it may be a sub division of a county.
Special districts: These units of government have special functions- best example
is local school district.
Municipalities- city town or borough governments get their authority to rule only
as it is granted by the state.

The single biggest expenditure in all states is education, with the average state and the
localities within it spending just less than one-quarter of its budget for public schools.
Funding for education comes primarily from the local school district budget, but most
state governments give a great deal of financial and administrative support to schools.
Other big budget items for state and local governments are the following:

Public welfare
Health care
Highways
Police and fire protection
Interest on debt
Utilities and liquor stores

Each of these items is less than 10% of state and local expenditures in most states, but
together they make up a good portion of the expenses.

Income :

Counties, townships, cities, and states collect some of their money from licenses and
fees and state-operated businesses, but about half of state revenue comes from taxes. Two
other sources of income are grants from the federal government and, in some states,
lotteries. Most states and localities levy three types of taxes:
 Sales taxes are the most important source of revenue for states. It is placed on
various products, and customers pay the tax when they buy them. Today 45 states
have a general sales tax that applies to most goods, although food is usually
excluded, and sometimes clothing is exempt. Some cities also collect sales tax.
Income taxes are imposed by all but a handful of states on personal and corporate
incomes. Personal income taxes are generally progressive; that is, they are
graduated so that the rate goes up with the size of the income. States generally do
not allow local governments to levy income taxes, but some municipalities
impose a payroll tax on people that work within their borders.
Property taxes provide the chief source of income for local governments today.
Taxes are levied on land, buildings, and personal dwellings. Property must be
assessed for its value, and most cities employ tax assessors for that job. Property
taxes are controversial because other types of property, such as stocks, bonds, and
bank accounts, generally are not taxed. Those who hold "real" property, then, pay
a disproportionate share of the taxes. (UShistory.org)

- a local government must be granted power by the state. In general, mayors, city
councils, and other governing bodies are directly elected by the people.

Voting- talk to students about how their parents vote for the elected official of
everything- mayor and schoolboard. Then you can talk about the different
member of the school board and then go into the mock meeting.

From Ducksters.com: this is a more student friendly definition and way of

describing it to a fourth grade class **

Local goveremnt:

below the state government is the local government. There are even separate
levels of government here. At the first level is the county government. Sometimes
these are called boroughs or parishes. The next level is the city or town
government. The powers and responsibilities between counties and cities can
vary widely from state to state. In some states there is almost no county
government, where in others the county is an important part and may be
responsible for something as important as funding schools. Cities, or
municipalities, often take care of things like police and fire departments, local
courts, public transportation, streets, signs, and parks.

Taxes:

Local governments get their taxes in different ways to pay to run the
government. Almost all states have a sales tax that adds to most purchases. This
money goes to the local government to help pay for services. Most states have
an income tax as well. Another major tax is property tax. If you own a home or a
building or a piece of land, you will have to pay a property tax bill. This money
generally helps pay for the school system, roads, and police/fire departments.
(Ducksters.com)

http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-state-government-powers-responsibilities-
challenges.html#transcriptHeader

http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-local-government-definition-responsibilities-
challenges.html#transcriptHeadersw2`

http://www.nlc.org/forms-of-municipal-government
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0877699.html
www.ushistory.org/gov/12b.asp
http://www.ducksters.com/history/us_state_and_local_governments.php