LeTourneau Lesson Plan Template

Name Amanda Culpepper _Class EDUC 4133_Date 8/03/21

Lesson Topic / Title:

The Branches of Government/ Government

Purpose / Rationale:

To teach the students about the people who decide which laws to pass. Activate the ethical

thinking skills of the students by having them decide the laws that they would like to modify!

TEKS: 5th grade

Social Studies/ Government 113.16

(15) Government. The student understands the framework of government created by the U.S.

Constitution of 1787. The student is expected to:

(A) identify and explain the basic functions of the three branches of government;

(B) identify the reasons for and describe the system of checks and balances outlined in the

U.S. Constitution; and

(C) distinguish between national and state governments and compare their responsibilities in

the U.S. federal system.

Language Arts and Reading 110.7

(6) Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple

texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of

increasingly complex texts. The student is expected to:

(A) establish purpose for reading assigned and self-selected texts;

 (B) generate questions about text before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding

and gain information;

(C) make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and

structures;

(D) create mental images to deepen understanding;

(E) make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society;

(F) make inferences and use evidence to support understanding;

(G) evaluate details read to determine key ideas;

(H) synthesize information to create new understanding; and

(I) monitor comprehension and make adjustments such as re-reading, using background

knowledge, asking questions, and annotating when understanding breaks down.

Instructional Objective(s):

● Students will be able to identify the three branches of government

● Students will be able to identify the people that are involved in each branch

● Students will be able to describe the functions of each branch

Materials (for both Teacher and Students):

● Poster board

● Pencil

● Poster Board markers

● Pen

● Class set of the Three Branches of Government Matchup worksheet

● Class set of the The Three Branches of Government worksheet

 ● Class set of the Branches of the Government worksheet

● Index cards

● Smartboard / camera

● computers/ipads

● Notebook paper

● Three Branches of Government SchoolHouse Rock

○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EISWIY9bG8

Anticipatory Set / Focus Activity:

I will explain to the students that they will be learning about the three branches of government in

the United States. I will then proceed by putting up the poster board, and divide it into two

columns. I will label the first column know and the second column learned. I will ask the

students to tell me what they know about the three branches of the government. I will write down

the information that my students give me on the poster.

Body of Lesson, including Instructional Strategies and Teacher Modeling:

● I will pass out the Three Branches of Government worksheet to the students.

● I will go over the worksheets with the students and explain the three branches in detail.

● I would use an example as “ I would tell the students that vetoing a law means that when

Congress sends a bill to the Executive Branch, the President can reject it. After that, the

bill goes back to Congress. If two-thirds of the members of Congress want it to become a

law, it becomes a law even though the President has rejected it. This is a form of checks

and balances between the branches of government.

 Guided Practice:

● I will ask my students to complete the Branches of the U.S. GOvernment

worksheet using the Three Branches of Government worksheet and ideas they

heard during the lesson.

● Go over the worksheet with the students as a class.

Independent Practice:

● I will give the students three index cards each.

● I will ask the students to write the name of the branch on the front of the card. I

will also have them include the people who make up that branch underneath the

name of the branch.

● Then will direct the students to write two jobs of that branch on the back of the

card.

Closure / Conclusion:

Review the poster with the class. I will ask the students what they learned from the unit and write

the things that they learned in the second column. I will also ask them if they were surprised

about any of the information they learned today, and which branch of government they believe is

the most influential.

Assessment:

I will ask my students to complete the Branches of Government Match-Up worksheet

Re-Teach Procedures (if necessary);

● Play the video Three Branches of Government Schoolhouse Rock

● I will ask my students to describe the three branches of government to me using examples

from the video. Clarify concepts that are still unclear to my students.
Enrichment Activities:

For those students I will ask them to think about current laws.

● Have them pick a law that they don’t like

● I will instruct them to research the law and to write the ideas about the law and the

consequences for breaking the law in the first paragraph

● I will have them write how they would modify the law to make it more suitable to them

in the second paragraph.

Modifications for Special Needs:

For students needing more assistance I will have visuals they can point at.
 Planning the Lesson: Lesson Plan Instructions

Topic/Title:

● The title may be something catchy, but also include the topic such as multiplication with

three numbers,

Purpose/Rationale:

■ Your purpose should tell why you are teaching what you are teaching.

■ Your purpose should relate to what you are teaching for real life application.

TEKS:

■ You should list the TEKS. For example, 1(a), 7(b), 8(f)

■ You do not need to type out what each of the TEKS specifically says.

Objective(s):

■ Specifically state what the students will learn, in observable and measurable terms

■ The student will (demonstrate, create, apply, analyze…..) :with (80%) accuracy.

Teacher and Student Materials Needed:

 ● What supplies, materials, and tools will you need?

● What will the students need?

Anticipatory Set/Focus:

■ How are you inviting the students into the lesson? How are you activating their schema?

■ Will it be a catch question, a demonstration, a class discussion, etc?

■ It should be a dynamic attention-getter and not include any of your teaching procedures

or materials.

■ This is not the actual instruction, but the lead in to the instruction.

Teacher Instruction and Modeling:

■ This is the direct teach portion of the lesson. How will you impart the knowledge that

students need to learn from your lesson?

■ You should include at least three strategies to reach the different learning styles of your

students. Group discussion, K-W-L, and anticipation guides are good examples.

■ You perhaps will model throughout the lesson, but especially what you are expecting

them to be able to do in Guided Practice and Independent Practice.

Guided Practice
 ● Students are actively engaged in Guided Practice with you providing support and

guidance for them to be successful at the skill you have taught. Informal (formative)

assessment is occurring as you recognize who is struggling with the skill.

Independent Practice:

■ The independent practice should directly relate to your objective. What will your

students do independently to demonstrate that they have grasped the concept(s) you have

taught?

Closure/Summary:

■ What did the students learn? The students need to tell you what they learned, not you
repeating what you hope they learned.
■ How will they use this new information?

Assessment

■ How will you formally assess the objective? What tools will you use? Assessment may
or may not have occurred prior to Closure/Summary.
■ What are your expectations with respect to demonstrated mastery? (eg., 75%? 80%?)

Enrichment

● How will you plan for those students who are stronger academically or “finish first”?
Activities should relate to the skill taught but at a higher level of Bloom’s.

Modifications

● How will you effectively teach students with IEPs, 504s, or otherwise experiencing
difficulties? Consider English Language Learners (ELLs) as well as reading-challenged
(dyslexic) students.