Unit: Why do we need government?

Lesson 1: Why do we need laws?

Essential Questions Standards of Learning (be sure to include integrated standards here too)
What is government? What are the basic purposes of government? Why do we need laws? VA Social Studies SOL 3.10: The student will recognize the importance of government in the community, Virginia, and the United States of America by a) explaining the purpose of rules and laws; b) explaining that the basic purposes of government are to make laws, carry out laws, and decide if laws have been broken; c) explaining that government protects the rights and property of individuals. VA English SOL 3.6: The student will continue to read and demonstrate comprehension of nonfiction texts. c) Preview and use text features. d) Ask and answer questions about what is read. f) Summarize major points found in nonfiction texts. Students will be able to explain the basic purpose of government is to create and enforce laws, speculate what our country would be like without laws, and classify the purposes of laws. Teacher Materials: How the US Government Works by Syl Sobel Chart paper and marker for KWL and laws T-chart

Objectives Materials

Student Materials: Social Studies notebook Paper and pencil for drawing classroom without rules. Index cards Purpose Cards (shaped like a person, caution sign, and house to represent the purpose of rules/procedures to protect peoples rights, safety, and property) Glue

Procedures (introduction, instructional strategies, summary/close)

Introduction (5 minutes): This week, we will begin learning about what government is and why we have a government. Whether you know it or not, government affects your life every day. Lets start thinking about what we know about government already and questions that we have about government to get us started. Lead students through completing a class KWL chart. o Prompting questions to help get them thinking: Who makes up the government? What jobs does the government have? Who is in charge? Why do we need a government? What purpose does it serve?

What services do you get from the government? Where does the government get its power? Have students think-pair-share to discuss what they know already and what questions they have for this unit. Create the KWL as a class.

Instructional Strategies (30 minutes): Begin by introducing the book How the US Government Works by Syl Sobel. Preview the book with students, noting and explaining non-fiction text features: table of contents, index, and glossary. Read the Introduction, which compares the US government to the system of rules and procedures students experience in school and asks what school would be like without order. Emphasize that one of the most important roles of our government is to make laws for people to follow. Talk about how Rules are what people must do or not do. Have students record this definition in their social studies notebook and write down 2 examples of what they must do and 2 examples of what they must not do in school. Have students draw a picture of what the classroom would look like without any rules or procedures. Students will then come back together and share. Facilitate class discussion about why rules and procedures are necessary in school. Divide students into pairs and give each pair a stack of index cards and a stack of Purpose Cards: People-shaped cards represent protecting a persons rights, caution sign-shaped cards represent protecting a persons safety, and house-shaped cards represent protecting a persons property. Explain the three main purposes of rules and laws. Have each pair of students write the classroom rules and daily procedures on the white index cards (1 per card). Pairs of students should match each rule or procedure to the appropriate purpose for that rule/procedure. Students will glue their sort into their social studies notebooks. (Teacher circles the room during this time to monitor student progress and assist students who need extra help). Facilitate a class discussion about the purposes of rules. Call on student volunteers to share where they placed rules and why the rule belongs in that category. What category do most of our class rules/procedures fall into? Explain to students that Laws are important rules written and carried out by the government. Have students record this definition in their social studies notebook. Ask students to think about laws they know of. What categories do those laws fall under? Make a class T-chart listing laws students are aware of and categories those laws fall into. Students should add 3 of these examples to their social studies notebooks under the definition of laws.

Summary (5 minutes): Discuss the importance of rules and laws and why they need to be followed (to keep people safe, protect peoples rights, and protect property). Reiterate that making laws is one of the main purposes of government to keep order among people. Introduce the unit project students will be responsible for: o Throughout the unit students will be divided into groups of 4. Each group is responsible for creating their own government. Each day you will revise details about your governments laws, leaders, and structure based on what you are

learning. We will discuss this in more detail tomorrow.

Formative Assessment Differentiation

Check that students correctly matched the classroom rules/procedures to the purpose. Teacher will also take anecdotal notes during class discussion time. Teacher provides 1:1 support for students with special needs during the sort. ESOL: ELL students will work with students with good oral language during think-pair-share and during partner activities. Additionally, sort cards have pictures as well as words to help students with meaning. Multiple Intelligences Addressed: Visual-Spatial (drawing pictures of an environment without rules, sort cards include pictures) Interpersonal (class discussion, partner work) Linguistic (students explain their drawings to the class and necessity of rules)

Purpose Cards

Protect Peoples Rights

Protect Peoples Safety

Protect Peoples Property