Baker College Teacher Prep Lesson Plan Form

Unit: Balance of Power Lesson Title: Introduction to the 3 Grade/Period: 4th

Branches
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
Video on the Branches of
Government from
https://www.brainpop.co
m/socialstudies/usgover
nment/branchesofgovern
ment/
Graphic organizer from
 Baker College Teacher Prep Lesson Plan Form

https://www.brainpop.co
m/socialstudies/usgover
nment/branchesofgovern
ment/activity/#=graphic
Organizer
Branches of government
game from
https://www.brainpop.co
m/games/branchesofgov
ernmentgame/
Matching activity from
https://www.brainpop.co
m/socialstudies/usgover
nment/branchesofgovern
ment/activity/#=standar
d
Primary Source activity
from
https://www.brainpop.co
m/socialstudies/usgover
nment/branchesofgovern
ment/primarysource/

Objective: I can describe the organizational structure of the federal

What students will know and be able to do
stated in student friendly language (use
Blooms and DOK levels for higher level
thinking objectives)
government in the United States by naming the three branches.
I can show how powers are divided among the three branches by
sorting the powers under the correct branches.

I can give examples of how the system of checks and balances

limits the power of the federal government

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?
Why should one individual not have complete control of
government?
Are we capable of balancing power?

What is the function of each branch of government?

How do members of each branch of government come into power?

Inclusion Activity:
Describe an activity that will ensure that all Enter the classroom wearing a crown, saying how you are the King
students and their voices are included at the
beginning of the lesson. or queen of the classroom.

The Brainpop game that the class will work together to complete
will allow students to be interactive.
 Baker College Teacher Prep Lesson Plan Form
Sequence of Activities:
Provide an overview of the flow of the lesson.
Should also include estimates of
pacing/timing.
Instructional Strategies:
Research-based strategies to help students
think critically about the concept/skill
Enter the classroom wearing a crown and telling the classroom how
you are like the King or Queen of the classroom as you have
complete control. Ask the students what they know about the United
States government. Some students should respond knowing some
basic knowledge of the President. Ask students if they know why the
President is different from a King. Some students could answer that
he does not have total power. (10 minutes)
Tell the students how when the Founding Fathers wrote the
Constitution they did not want the President to have the same kind of
power that the King of England had over the country. So, they
decided to divide the power between three branches of government.
Pass out the graphic organizers of the three branches of government
to students. (5 min)
Tell students they will be watching a short video on the three
branches of government and you want them to take down notes on
the graphic organizer. Then play the video. (5 min)
When the video is over, discuss with the class what they wrote down
for each branch of government in their graphic organizer. Have a
large version of the organizer on the smartboard or white board and
allow students to come up and write something they wrote on the
paper. (15 min)
Using the activity Four Sides, where each side of the room stands for
Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree
Have students decide if they believe the balance of powers is fair
amongst the three branches and one does not have more power than
the other. Let students discuss with their groups why they picked the
side they stood on. Then let each side state aloud why they picked
that side. (15 min)
Have students hand in their graphic organizers and then pull up the
Branches of government game from Brainpop and allow students to
come and sort the different powers under each branch. (10 min)
Hand out Matching activity from Brainpop as an Exit ticket for
students to complete. (5 min)
A graphic organizer helps to showcase the powers of the different
branches of the government.
The use of the matching activity as an exit ticket helps to show what
they have learned from the lesson.
Four sides allows students to form groups on their own and lets them
 Baker College Teacher Prep Lesson Plan Form
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
share their ideas and opinions.
Formative assessments include the graphic organizer, the
Brainpop game played together with the class and the
Matching activity for the exit ticket.
The Summative assessment will occur at the end of the unit
as students work in groups to showcase the working of
checks and balances. The class will be divided into the three
branches and detail how their branch checks the other
branches.
I will pass out the Primary Source activity from Brainpop as an
unhomework assignment. Students can complete this for extra
credit. This is useful for the more advanced students.
The video has a printable transcript that can be handed out to
students with auditory issues. Also, it could be translated into the
native language of students who are English Language Learners.
The four sides activity allows students to showcase their
understanding of the different powers of the government and if they
think that the balance is equal or not.
I will ask students throughout the lesson to find any examples of
checks and balances in recent news. These can be used in discussion
during following lessons on the different branches.