KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

PROFESSIONAL SEMESTER PROGRAM

Teacher Candidate: Milah Smith Date: 2/16

Cooperating Teacher: Mrs. Flannery Coop. Initials

Group Size: Allotted Time Grade Level

24 30 mins 1st
Subject or Topic: Section
Day 3- President & laws 085

STANDARD: (PA/Common Core):

- 5.1.1.D: Explain the importance of written rules and laws.

I. Performance Objectives (Learning Outcomes)

- SWBAT discuss and explain why it is important for there to be a record of rules
and laws.

II. Assessment/Evaluation plan

A. Formative

Assessment: Documentation Tool: Scale:

(e.g. product, quick (e.g. rating scale, (performance levels)
response, interview) rubric, checklist,
anecdotal notes)

quick response- turn and anecdotal notes of participating or not

talk conversations and on task

B. Summative: none for this lesson

III. Instructional Materials (includes amount)

- Flipchart to record comments made during turn and talk
- Visual of how a bill moves through congress
- Smartboard
- Packet page of visual process

IV. Subject Matter/ Content (prerequisite skills, key vocabulary, new content)
 A. Prerequisite Skills
a. Knowledge of what rules and laws are
b. What the President does

B. Key Vocabulary
a. Law: a rule the government makes that the people have to obey
b. Congress: made up of elected officials who write and pass laws
c. Bill: an idea for a law that is presented
d. Subcommittee: group of people focused on a certain area of law

C. New Content
a. Congress writes laws
i. President approves or vetoes them
ii. Congress can override veto
b. Laws need to be written down so they can be consistent

V. Implementation

A. Introduction –
- I have a BIG announcement! As of right now we have a new rule in our
classroom. You have to skip whenever you are moving. There will be NO
MORE walking or you will clip down. Am I clear?
- Have students from the blue? row skip to their seats as Mrs. Flannery
comes in and yells at them for skipping saying they should know better
- The students defend themselves and say I told them it was a new class rule
- I disagree and tell Mrs. Flannery I have no idea what they are talking
about, and the rest of the students should get upset

B. Development –
- How could we have fixed this situation so there wasn’t such a big mix up?
- Guide them to say “write it down”
- Yes! It is super important that when laws are made they are written down
so that other people can read them and interpret them.
- In our country we have a congress. Have you heard of this before?
- Explain what congress is
- Before a law is made it is presented to congress as a bill. This means it is
written down but nothing has been decided on it yet.
- Let’s say I want to pass a law in this class that only skipping is allowed,
no walking. I am going to write this down and then give you, the congress,
a speech.
- I strongly feel that skipping should be the only allowable way to
move around our classroom. Walking is boring and skipping keeps
things interesting. Please pass this bill. Thank you.
- Now, before you all vote, this first has to go to the skipping subcommittee.
 - Abiel, Inari, and Brianny have 30 seconds to decide if they want to
approve, deny, or change it
- Okay, approved! Now it goes to the transportation committee.
- Ava, Ryan, Miyah, and Jahir join them and they have another 30
seconds
- Transportation committee also approved this bill. Now they are bringing it
to the congress. You (committee) have one minute to try and convince the
congress that this bill should or should not be made into a law. Time starts
now.
- Time is up! Now the congress must vote on this bill. All in favor of
making skipping instead of walking a classroom law stand up.
- If passed, Mrs. Flannery as president can veto and it gets sent back
- Students can then vote a second time to try and push it
through
- If fails then say it can go back to the writing stage and they can try
again

C. Closure –
- I want you to turn and talk with your partner about why written laws are
important.

D. Accommodations / Differentiation -
- Based on behaviors and climate in the classroom I may substitute different
students than the ones listed in order to get a robust conversation going for
the subcommittee and committee groups.
- I will have the students not in the committee brainstorm what they would
do if they were in the committee so they are prepared for when it comes to
them.

VI. Reflective Response

A. Report of Students’ Performance in Terms of States Objectives

The students met the objectives stated in the lesson of being able to state and
explain the importance of laws being written down and accessible. They were
incredibly engaged throughout the entire simulation and recognized almost
immediately the importance of their being a documentation of rules rather than
just verbal.

B. Personal Reflection

- Did the students make the connection between our classroom and the
United States government?

Yes, the students were able to connect the different parts of our class to
 the United States government. For instance, they identified that Mrs.
Flannery was equivalent to the President, the entire class was like
congress, and small groups of them were committees! Once we ran
through the entire simulation they were able to tell me the process from
start to finish of a bill becoming a law.

- How could I have made this more clear for students to understand?

If I were to teach this lesson again, I would be sure to reference the flow
chart more frequently, so they could associate each step with a picture.
This would make it easier to remember for them as opposed to simply
memorizing the steps. Also, I did not teach them that the president’s veto
can get sent back to congress, and I should add that in next time to fully
represent the legislative process.

VII. Resources (APA Format)

The United States Government. (2021). The executive branch. The White House.

Retrieved February 5, 2022, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-

house/our-government/the-executive-branch/.

The United States Government. (2021). The Legislative Branch. The White

House. Retrieved February 5, 2022, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-

white-house/our-government/the-legislative-branch/.