Baker College Teacher Prep Lesson Plan Form

Unit: Balance of Power Lesson Title: Executive Branch Grade/Period: 4th

CCSS or State Standards:

4 C3.0.3 Describe the

organizational structure of the
federal government in the United
States (legislative, executive, and
judicial branches).
4 C3.0.4 Describe how the
powers of the federal government
are separated among the branches.
4 C3.0.5 Give examples of how
the system of checks and balances
limits the power of the federal
government (e.g., presidential veto
of legislation, courts declaring a
law unconstitutional,
congressional approval of judicial
appointments).
4 C3.0.6 Describe how the
President, members of the
Congress, and justices of the
Supreme Court come to power
(e.g., elections versus
appointments).

Resources and Materials:

Fake Crown
Anticipation activity
worksheet from ICivics
Reading worksheets
from ICivics
Review worksheets from
ICivics
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Objective:
What students will know and be able to do I can identify powers of the executive branch described in
stated in student friendly language (use
Blooms and DOK levels for higher level Article II of the U.S. Constitution
thinking objectives)
 Baker College Teacher Prep Lesson Plan Form
Essential Question(s):
Over-arching questions of the lesson that will
indicate student understanding of
concepts/skills What is it you want the
students to learn/know? Why?
Inclusion Activity:
Describe an activity that will ensure that all
students and their voices are included at the
beginning of the lesson.
Sequence of Activities:
Provide an overview of the flow of the lesson.
Should also include estimates of
pacing/timing.
I can describe the responsibilities of the president and vice
president
I can evaluate the difficulty of certain presidential
responsibilities
I can recall the length of a presidents term and the number
of terms to which a president may be elected
Why should one individual not have complete control of
government?
Does the President hold too much power?
What is the function of the executive branch?
Students discuss what they believe are the toughest parts of the
Presidents job.
Walking in with the crown on your head, talk with the students
about how they think the President is different from a King or
Queen. Ask what type of jobs the students think the President might
have (5 min)
Pass out the anticipation activity from ICivics. Have students
individually rank each group on what they feel would be the
toughest task. (5 min)
Have students share what item was the toughest job in each of the
three sets. Keep a tally of which was the most popular answer from
each set. Then have students discuss what would be the toughest of
the top choices from each group. (10 min)
Pass out the reading pages from ICivics to the students. Describe
how the text box in the first page showcases lines from the
Constitution with the Presidents jobs underlined. Read aloud with
the students. Check for understanding with Red, Yellow, Green
light. Explain more when students have red or yellow lights. (10
min)
Hand out the first review worksheet to students and allow them to
work in pairs. Go over the worksheet when students are finished. (15
min)
 Baker College Teacher Prep Lesson Plan Form
Instructional Strategies:
Research-based strategies to help students
think critically about the concept/skill
Assessment:
List both formative and summative
assessments that you will use to assess student
understanding. Formative assessments are
given during instruction (check for
understanding), summative are after
completion of instruction (how will you grade
quiz, test, project, paper, presentation,
demonstration, etc.).
Differentiation:
Describe who will need additional or different
support during this lesson, and how you will
support them. Differentiated instruction could
include testing accommodations, preferential
seating, segmented assignments, a copy of the
teachers notes, assignment notebook, peer
tutors, etc.
Summary, Integration and
Reflection:
List the way that you will bring students
together to integrate and reflect on their
learning from this lesson
Ask students to write down on a scrap piece of paper what they think
would be the hardest part about being President for their exit ticket.
(5 min)
The anticipation activity helps students to discuss their reasoning
skills for why they believe certain tasks are harder than others.
Red, Yellow, Green light helps to ensure students are understanding
what is being taught and then a teacher can better clarify certain
areas.
The exit ticket helps showcase at least one element they have
learned from the lesson
Formative: Red, Yellow, Green light during the reading helps to
see how well the students are understanding the reading.
The review worksheet helps to go over the points from the
reading.
Summative: This will occur at the end of the unit as students are
divided up into groups for the three different branches of
government. Students will note how the executive branch in
balanced by the legislative and judicial and how the executive
checks them.
I can hand out the second review worksheet for an unhomework
assignment for students to complete for extra credit. This helps
students get more practice at home as this worksheet is not as
difficult.
The reading worksheets can be translated into the native languages
of the students who are English language learners.
English language learners can also be paired up with the more
advanced students during the time when students work on the review
worksheet.
The anticipation activity should be useful to not only debate on what
elements of the Presidents job is difficult but also to just see how
many difficult tasks are involved.
The students exit tickets can help showcase what they personally
believe would be the hardest part about being President.
Baker College Teacher Prep Lesson Plan Form