Unit 3, Lesson 2How does the Legislative Branch work?

Essential Questions: How do our Federal, state, and local governments work?

Learning Target: IWBAT analyze the structure, function, and process of the Legislative Branch.

IWBAT illustrate the law making process at the local, state, and federal levels.

Formative Assessment(s):What are the benefits to the American people that the bill takes such a long process to become a law?

Homework: Vocabulary

Daily Rubric: 4 – I fully understand

the learning target and I am ready to move on

3 – I feel like I have a good understanding of the learning target but I need to cover it a little more

2 – I feel kind of lost on the learning target and I need a lot of review before I can move on

1 – I am completely lost and feel like I need to completely cover this learning target over

Preview

How do state governments differ from the federal government?

Vocabulary

Bicameral legislature:

Senate:

House of Representatives:

Apportioned:

Gerrymandering:

Caucuses:

President Pro Tempore:

Speaker of the House:

Whip:

implied powers:

elastic clause:

filibuster:

Vocabulary

Bicameral legislature: lawmaking body that consists of two houses

Senate: House of Congress based on equal representation per state. Each state has 2 senators, for a total of 100 senators in the Senate.

House of Representatives: House of Congress based on population of each state. Each state is guaranteed at least one representative. There are 435 representatives all together.

Apportioned: to be distributed, as in the seats in the House of Representative

Gerrymandering: the process of drawing congressional district lines to favor a political party

Caucuses: meetings of party leaders to determine party policy or to choose the party’s candidates for public office

Vocabulary

President Pro Tempore: the official who presides over the Senate in the vice president’s absence

Speaker of the House: presiding officer of the House of Representatives

Whip: official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature

implied powers: powers not specifically given to Congress by the Constitution that are suggested to be necessary to carry out powers delegated to Congress under the Constitution (necessary and proper clause)

elastic clause: “necessary and proper clause” that allows Congress to extend its delegated powers

filibuster: method of delaying action on a bill in the Senate by making long speeches

Activity

Learn how a bill becomes a law:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFroMQlKiag

Page 151: find a new and creative way to draw a diagram on page 151.

Formative Assessment

What are the benefits to the American people that the bill takes such a long process to become a law?