Alabama Social Studies SS24.6.16b
The Standard
- SS24.6.16
- Compare duties and functions of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches at various levels of government.
Identify key positions in each branch and describe their responsibilities.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students place the president, vice president, cabinet secretaries, senators, representatives, and Supreme Court justices in the right branches. They explain who votes on bills, who signs and carries out laws, and who decides court cases. They describe how the vice president can break Senate ties and how the chief justice leads the Supreme Court.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a school lunch bill, a student names senators and representatives as the voters, the president as the signer or vetoer, and the agriculture secretary as an official who oversees the program. They explain that judges hear legal challenges and Supreme Court justices may decide the case if it reaches them.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may put the vice president in the legislative branch because that person can break Senate ties. They may think justices make laws or that the president votes on bills in Congress.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A school lunch bill passes Congress and becomes law, then faces a court challenge. Name who voted on the bill, who could sign it, and who could decide the challenge; label each person's branch.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs cards naming federal officials and cards describing their duties; have them match each pair and sort them into three branches.
Have students write who handles a bill after Congress votes and who handles a court challenge to the resulting law.
Play a clue game: read duties such as 'votes on bills' and 'decides court cases' while teams hold up position cards.
Bring a cereal box and have students chart who passes labeling laws, enforces labeling rules, and decides labeling lawsuits.
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Printable SS24.6.16b Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.2.2
Identify the three branches of government and describe their roles.
- SS24.1.2
Identify public offices in the community and state and the duties associated with them.
- SS24.6.16
Compare duties and functions of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches at various levels of government.
- SS24.6.16a
Illustrate and explain the relationship among the three branches, including checks and balances and separation of powers.
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