Legislative Branch Unit with Activities, PPTs, Card Sorts, & Games

Confidently teach the legislative branch, the powers of Congress, how a bill becomes a law, and landmark legislation with these plug-and-play activities, PPTs, and games.

This is perfect for upgrading your existing unit or building one from scratch!

All resources are independent of each other, letting you pick and choose and weave in your own favorite activities. But they also give you a complete ready-to-go unit when used together.

This unit comes in two formats: print PDF and digital Google files.

Greatness is appreciating the thoughtful process that creates and protects the rights we use every day.

Almost half of Americans CAN'T name the three branches of government (47%), and two-thirds (65% and 64%) don't know how long Senator and Representative terms are.

Don’t let your students be on the wrong side of these abysmal statistics by making your teaching stick beyond the unit test with these visceral and relevant legislative branch activities and projects.

This year, let’s leave the out-of-date government textbook behind and take students straight to primary sources, shocking data, compelling questions, and authentic projects that make learning memorable.

Everything you need is included: multiple ways to deliver core content, student-centered activities to process content, quick and in-depth research projects, and formative and summative assessments.

Collectively, these activities can be done well in 3-4 weeks.

Included in this Legislative Branch unit bundle:

Legislative Branch Lecture Kit

• 70 clean and modern lecture slides detailing everything you need to fully cover the judicial branch (click to see full list of topics included)
• Slide-by-slide teacher script-- so detailed a sub could teach it!
• Two versions of guided notes-- on-level and extra-support
• 50+ question test bank to build custom assessments natively in your LMS

Legislative Branch Podcast Kit

• 4 guided notes to accompany Civics 101 podcast episodes
• Political cartoon & news article analysis forms to pair current events with content covered

Powers of Congress 3-in-1 Activity Kit

• Lecture with guided notes of all the Article I expressed powers of Congress
• Landmark Legislation Stations where students learn about real-life examples of each power
• Name That Law Review & Quiz Game review and assess learning by examining same laws by how Congress actually passed them, including checks by the other two branches

How Bill Becomes a Law 4-in-1 Activity Kit

• Mini lecture with guided notes on the legislative process
• Matching & Sorting Cards to review process
• Crack the Code Stations Game to solidify the process in a fun competition
• Political Cartoon & News Source Analysis for you to incorporate any current event on Congress and the legislative process with how-to analysis sheets

Washington DC Statehood Research Essay PBL Project

• Culminate your unit or course with this formal research essay project with a fun twist-- students play advisors to the President, recommending a policy position
• Students research and decide on the Congressional power & Constitutional issue of whether DC should be admitted as the 51st state

Legislative Branch Review Activity Cards

• 100 concept & description cards to sort, match, and organize
• Image and title cards are also included for deeper learning
• 10+ activity ideas for whole class, small group, & individual review
• Use throughout your course -- to pre-assess, reinforce learning, or review before a unit or EOC final

Plus two BONUS activities, not available for individual purchase

• Congressional Demographics -- find and crunch the numbers about various demographic statistics, comparing Congress's makeup with the American population
• Current Members of Congress -- research your state's members of Congress and Congressional leaders, their backgrounds, leanings, and major accomplishments in this poster-and-gallery-walk activity

Brand new to teaching Civics / Government and need everything?

Civics & American Government course bundle teach this inquiry-driven and project-based semester course with confidence!

This listing is for one license for regular, non-commercial classroom use by a single teacher only. Commercial use like online teaching (ex. Outschool) or sharing with other teachers (ex. shared drive, in a Facebook group, in a professional development training) is strictly prohibited.

By purchasing a license to this resource, you have access to all future updates at no cost, available under “My Purchases." Multiple and transferable licenses are available for purchase. PDF files are uneditable, other files have editing abilities, unless otherwise stated. All files are protected under federal copyright laws.

To request a complete terms of use prior to purchase or if you have any questions about this resource, please leave a question below under Product Q&A.