Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)

Lesson Idea Name: Branches of Government

Content Area: Social Studies
Grade Level(s): 1st grade

Content Standard Addressed: SS3CG1 Describe the elements of representative democracy/republic in the
United States. a. Describe the three branches of national government: executive (president), legislative
(Congress), and judicial (Supreme Court of the United States).

Technology Standard Addressed: Knowledge Constructor: Students critically curate a variety of resources
using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning
experiences for themselves and others.
Selected Technology Tool: Bubbl.us

URL(s) to support the lesson (if applicable): https://bubbl.us/

Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):

☒ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☒ Evaluating ☒ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☐ Level 3: Infusion ☒ Level 4: Integration
☐ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

Engagement: The students have a choice of where they gather their information from the below websites:
https://www.ducksters.com/history/us_government.php
https://www.usa.gov/branches-of-government
https://bensguide.gpo.gov/a-what-are-branches
https://kids-clerk.house.gov/grade-school/lesson.html?intID=1

Representation: On each website, there is a glossary available to the children. This will potentially help the
ESL learners clarify unknown words or understand context in a sentence.

Action and Expression: Each group will post their final presentation to the classroom blog, allowing for an ESL
student to access it as well as any student who may need more review or help with the current subject matter
being taught in the classroom.
Lesson idea implementation: The class as a whole will be going over the Three Branches of Government. We
will be watching a short video from BrainPOP on the Government. Students will have access to class iPads and
will be instructed to use the notes section of the iPad to write down any information they deem useful. After
the video is over, students will be broken up into small groups of 3. Each group will be responsible for making
a mind map that displays the branches of government. Since there will be 3 students in a group, each student
will be responsible for one branch. Groups will get the information ONLY from the 4 websites listed above and
already approved as appropriate for the students.

From there, each group will post their mind map on the classroom blog for easy access as well as review for
any students who need extra practice/ review. To review, each student will use meet with another group and
share an image of their mind map and recap what they found interesting about the branches.

Spring 2018_SJB
 Beyond-the-Basic Productivity Tools (BBPT)
Reflective Practice: To further this lesson, the students could have an out of class assignment where they
read another group’s mind map and comment, through the comment section on the blog, about what they
found useful in the mind map as well as helpful information they may have looked over.

Spring 2018_SJB