Mini Lesson

 Hello and welcome to this mini course on The Three Branches of Government.  Theobjectives listed are the focus of this lesson.  When you follow the activity links they will

take you to sites that explore the people and the functions of each branch of the United States government.  You will participate in online assessment with interactive quizzes and other activities on the websites.  Your reflective blog posts are also a part of the assessment for this mini lesson.

Alabama Course of Study Standard Citizenship #4

http://alex.state.al.us/standardAll.php?ccode=CIT&subject=T1&summary=3

NETS Standards 
http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-students 
#2 Communication and Collaboration 
#3 Research and Information Fluency  
#5 Digital Citizenship




 
Learning Objectives
 

• Students will be able to identify the three branches of government and the number of elected and appointed positions in each.

• Students will describe the function of each of the three branches

• Students will do a comparative analysis of the legislative and judicial branch and the  balancing of power between the three 

Activity Links

Follow these links to interactive sites with fun activities that will teach you all about the three branches of government and their system of checks and balances. 
Point and click the link, then click again to  to to that page. Click the back arrow to return to the previous page.
After you have explored the sites take the interactive quizzes to test your knowledge.  Feel free to go back and review the sites as many times as needed. 

• http://www.slideshare.net/judgea/the-three-branches-of-government
• http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/usa_game/government/index.htm
• http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110221/ 
• http://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government 

Reflective Blog Post Question

Now that you have explored the learning activities and tested your knowledge with the interactive quizzes, it's time to synthesize the information and write a reflective blog post for the questions below.

• Describe the function of each branch of government.  Compare and contrast the executive and legislative branches.  How do the three branches balance power?  
•  Read the posts of your classmates and respond thoughtfully and respectfully to at least two of their responses.
• If you have questions, comments or aha moments about the three branches of government, you can share them on the blog or send me and email.
• We will extend our study of the  branches of government with a group activity in the classroom.

You may contact me with any questions that you may have or issues that you need help with at ckfowlkes@gmail.com.