Social StudiesUnit One
Lesson 2
The Constitution
Civics Standards Covered in This Lesson
• Students will learn about the constitutional separation of powers.
What you will learn from this lesson.
• The constitution states that the government has three jobs. That is why our government has three branches:
• The Legislative Branch
• The Executive Branch
• The Judicial Branch
The Constitution
• This is our book of rules that tells our government how it is supposed to do its work.
The Legislative Branch
• This branch makes the rules or laws for the United States government.
• This branch is called Congress.
Congress
• Congress has two groups:– The U. S. Senate– The U. S. House of Representatives
• These two groups work together to make our laws.
The Executive Branch
• This branch make sure that the government performs its jobs according to the laws that Congress makes.
• The leader of this branch is the president.
• The president also commands the army, navy, and air force, and meets with leaders of other countries.
The Judicial Branch
• This branch contains the courts.
• The courts decide how to:– Punish people who do not obey the laws.– Settle arguments that people cannot settle
themselves.
• Legislative creates laws– House– senate
• Executive approves laws– President– advisors
• Judicial enforces laws
• Students brainstorm what they think would be an important law
What we learned from this lesson.
• The constitution divided our government into three branches to handle three different jobs.
• The Legislative Branch
• The Executive Branch
• The Judicial Branch
The Legislative Branch
• This branch makes the rules or laws for the United States government.
• This branch is called Congress.
The Three Branches of Government – United Streaming
• http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=DD9F95CB-72DA-4777-A239-433B719B297C