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Its a Balancing Act!

5th Grade Language Arts and Social Studies WebQuest

INTRODUCTION

TASK

PROCESS

SOURCES

EVALUATION

CONCLUSIONS AND EXTENSIONS

FOR TEACHERS

INTRODUCTION

Many people from other countries apply for citizenship in the United States every year. There were 604,280 new naturalized citizens in the year 2005 alone!You have been hired to make a brochure for these new citizens explaining the three branches of the United States government. You will explain what each branch is responsible for and the checks and balances in the system that make it work so well. In this WebQuest, you will learn about the three branches of the United States government: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. You will also discover how the system of checks and balances works.

TASK

Research the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches of our government. Discover and record the duties and responsibilities of each branch. Find and record the checks and balances each branch has over the other two. Design a brochure that will teach new citizens about our government.

PROCESS

Watch video in the source section. Visit provided links to collect information to complete Information Chart. Design and create a brochure that will teach new Americans about the branches of our government. Follow the guide below. All brochures should be submitted in final copy form (carefully written, colorfully illustrated, free of mistakes)

Suggested format:

Front Cover - eye catching title and artwork, author's name
Inside Cover - basic information about our government
Inside 3 panels - one panel for each branch of government, clearly stating duties and responsibilities of each branch and r checks and balances each branch has over the other two.

SOURCES

Click here for Video "This is Our Government"

Legislative Branch	Executive Branch	Judicial Branch	Checks and Balances
Congress for Kids House of Representative	What a President Can Do and Cannot Do	Truman Library- Executive Branch	Congress & Courts Balance Each Other
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids The U.S. Congress	Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids The President	Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids The Supreme Court	Congress for Kids - Legislative Branch
Fact Monster: Checks & Balances	Congress for kids – Executive Branch	Scholastic: Role of the Supreme Court	Congress & President Balance Each Other
Truman Library- Legislative	The American President	Role of Supreme Court	Fact Monster: Checks & Balances

EVALUATION

	Mastery (3)	Making Progress (2)	Beginner (1)
Information Chart	Chart is complete and contains duties and responsibilities for each branch and states how checks and balances work regarding the branch	Chart is mostly complete showing some duties and responsibilities for each branch. Chart briefly addresses checks and balances in system.	Chart is not complete or contains inaccurate information. Checks and balances are not identified
Content	Brochure is complete and contains duties and responsibilities for each branch and states how checks and balances work regarding the branch	Brochure is mostly complete showing some duties and responsibilities for each branch. Brochure briefly addresses checks and balances in system.	Brochure is not complete or contains inaccurate information. Checks and balances are not identified
Overall neatness and appearance	Brochure follows assigned format. Illustrations are neat and relevant. Brochure is neat, well organized and free of errors.	Brochure follows part of assigned format. Illustrations are messy or irrelevant. Brochure is somewhat neat, but lacks organization and contains errors that may affect understanding.	Brochure does not follow assigned format. Illustrations are messy or irrelevant. Brochure messy, lacks organization and contains errors that interfere with understanding of material.

CONCLUSIONS AND EXTENSIONS

FOR TEACHERS

Research Chart

This Web Quest targets the following Michigan Objectives:
W.PR.05.02 Use the writing process to produce and present a research project; use a variety of resources to gather and organize relevant information into central ideas and supporting details for a teacher-approved narrowed focus question and hypothesis.
R.CM.05.04 apply significant knowledge from grade-level science, social studies, and mathematics texts

Students needed extra support with computer skills or writing skills can work with a partner to gather information and fill out note sheet.