Culminating Activity:

Changing the Law: Amending Ones Rights

By Erin Melville & Mirjana Vlahovich

The class will be broken into three groups. Assuming a class of 28 students, the first
group will consist of 10 students acting as Citizens. The second group will consist of 13 students
acting as Congress, the House and the Senate. The third group of 5 students will act as President
and decide whether to enact the bill or veto it.

Group 1 will decide on a law or rule they would like to modify or add to.

Group 2 will vote on approving, rejecting, or amending the bill (law)

Group 3 will decide whether to enact or veto the bill

Note: if the President (Group 3) vetoes the bill, Congress (Group 2) has an opportunity to
override the veto. This will be conducted in class by taking a vote with the members that are
present during class that day, minus the group who acted as President. Congress in this case
will be all of Group 2. There must be a two-thirds roll call vote of the members of Congress
(Group 2) in order for the amendment to be enacted.

The purpose of this activity is to enrich the students understanding of Congress and the process
of putting a law or bill into place. After having multiple lesson plans explaining the
Governments roles and history, this final activity should strengthen the students understanding
while making learning fun and enjoyable.

References:

http://government.mrdonn.org/amendments.html

http://www.naeyc.org/policy/federal/bill_law