SECONDARY LESSON PLAN:

Three Branches of Government: Legislative, Executive & Judicial

1. Standards: INTASC Standards:

Standard 1: Learner Development
Standard 6: Assessment
Nevada Core Standards:
SS.9-12.CE.27. Examine the roles and responsibilities of the
three branches of government
SS.9-12.CE.29. Analyze the legislative processes involved
in the creation of laws and regulations at the local, state, and national
levels.
2. Objectives: Identify the specific concepts taught in the lesson plan.
 identify the three branches of government
 explain the responsibilities of each branch
 create a model representing learned concepts using higher-level thinking
1. Materials/Equipment:
 12 paper circles, 3-6-inches in diameter, for each group ( print out of
Bloom ball templates for each group)
 Glue
 Markers or crayons
3. Instruction- learning Process: Create the lesson following the design below:
 Do First: Have students think of a group of people they know well, like their families or sports
teams they play on. Ask them who makes important decisions and how these decisions are made.
Have them do a three-minute flash draft to answer these questions, then have them briefly share
answers among each other. Guide students toward the conclusion that governing a group can be
complicated and requires a structured system. Explain that this is, in part, why the United States
government has a sturdy structure made of 3 branches. (20 minutes.)
 Mini-lesson: Show the Study.com video lesson The 3 Branches of Government: Executive,
Legislative, Judicial. Have students take notes using a 3-column chart to divide notes on the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches. (10 minutes)
 Guided Practice: After the video lesson, address the following discussion questions as a class:
o Why did the framers of the constitution create 3 branches?
o How do 'checks and balances' help reach this goal?
o Why was dividing powers so important to the colonists?
o What do you notice about the representation of the framers? Which groups were missing?
What impact did/does this have? (10 minutes)
 Independent Practice:
o Divide students into partners, small groups, or individuals, depending on your students'
needs and class size.
o Explain that each group will create a Bloom ball. (The Bloom ball is created from 12
paper circles. Templates and instructions for Bloom balls can be found online.)
o Each group should fill in the 12 sides of the ball with information about the three branches
of government. For each of the 6 levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (knowledge, comprehension,
application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation), the group will use two sides of the ball.
For instance, two sides will be dedicated to knowledge, two sides to comprehension, and so
forth.
o Students should work to create balls that are unique and creative.
 o Circulate the room, checking for comprehension and guiding students.
(30 min.)
 Exit Slip:
o Share when complete and hang the Bloom balls room (20 min.)
4. Resources: In APA style list all resources used to plan and write this lesson including all
books, text information, websites, videos, other lesson plans etc.

At A Glance InTASC Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://coe.hawaii.edu/sites/default/files/extranet/documents/InTASC - Field Progression.pdf

Bloom Ball. (2016, April 06). Retrieved from https://www.smore.com/3uqe-bloom-ball

2018 Nevada Academic Content Standards for Social Studies. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.doe.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/nde.doe.nv.gov/content/Standards_Instructional_Support/N
evada_Academic_Standards/Social_Studies/NVACSforSocialStudies.pdf

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-3-branches-of-government-

executive-legislative-judicial.html

5. Reflection: In conclusion, I think that this lesson plan can help the students create a better sense of
the three branches of government. Using the Bloom Ball to help the students not only identify the different
branches but also create and explain what they have learned. This lesson plan helps all different types of
learners by giving them the space to listen, visualize and create. The strengths of this lesson are the amount
of knowledge a student can obtain from it. A weakness would be the lack of time that the lesson may need
to be finished. I had to adjust the times in order to try to fit into one class, but the lesson may require more
based on student behavior and presentation of bloom ball.