5.3 – Think and Apply Activity 1

Who are Your Government Representatives?

Do some internet searches to find out who your U.S. representative is AND who your state’s two U.S. senators are.

CLICK ON the websites below, SEARCH for your reps, and EMAIL the following information to your teacher:

  1. The names of your U.S. representative AND their political party;
    Find your representative: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
  2. Your state’s TWO U.S. senators, AND their political parties; Find your senators: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

“Who’s Got the Power” Activity and Quick Write

Singular tree with no leaves on a mountainside.
We can think of the U.S. government’s structure like a tree. The trunk is the federal government, and the branches are the three main parts of government. [Credit]
  1. As we learned from the reading text, the U.S. government is structured in a special way. As a class, can you:
    • name the three branches of government;
    • explain the separation of powers; and
    • describe the limits on power created by checks and balances?

2. It is important to have a general idea of the most important duties of each branch of government.

Look at the “Who’s Got the Power?” Activity & Quick Write handout and your teacher will break the class into 2 or 3 groups. Read the chart for a few minutes with your group and discuss which branch (Executive, Legislative, Judicial) is responsible for the duties on the list.
Choose a representative who will explain your group’s answers to the rest of the class. Confirm the correct choices for each duty as a class – which group had the most correct answers?

3. Next, do an individual “quick write” (~5-10 minutes) on the related question below. Remember, the goal of a quick write is to quickly get ideas on to the paper and not worry too much about grammar and spelling, etc. Some students can share their writing with the class.

Question: What would happen if only ONE branch of government was responsible for making laws, approving laws, AND reviewing laws?

If only one branch of government got to make laws, enforce them, and review them, it would ___________________________________________.

BONUS MATERIALS FROM OUR TEACHER COMMUNITY!

Federal Government Graphic Organizer with Writing Question

Created by Azul Kmiecik – Literacy Minnesota 

NEXT: Let’s learn and practice some new digital skills!

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CILIA-T: Civics, U.S. History, Academic English and Digital Skills Copyright © by Aydin Durgunoglu; Erin Cary; and John Trerotola is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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