Curriculum / ELA / 4th Grade / Alternate Unit 4: Politics and People: U.S. Government / Lesson 6
ELA
Alternate Unit 4
4th Grade
Lesson 6 of 29
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Describe why the executive branch is important and why the President's Cabinet is important.
Book: For Which We Stand: How Our Government Works and Why It Matters by Jeff Foster — pp. 82–83, 88, 133–137
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Tasks that represents the peak thinking of the lesson - mastery will indicate whether or not objective was achieved
Why is the executive branch important? What reasons and evidence does the author include to show the importance of the executive branch?
An example response to the Target Task at the level of detail expected of the students.
Questions about the text that will help guide the students understanding
What is the main idea of the sections "What Does the President Do?" and "Powers of the President"? What details does the author include to support the main idea?
What is the main idea of the section "The President's Team"? What details does the author include to support the main idea?
What are the responsibilities of the President's Cabinet? Give two to three specific examples.
Assess student understanding and monitor progress toward this lesson's objective with an Exit Ticket.
Literary terms, text-based vocabulary, idioms and word parts to be taught with the text
advisor
n.
(p. 88)
a person who gives advice
cabinet
(p. 133)
A committee of advisors responsible for helping the president create government policy
president
(p. 82)
the elected leader of the government
nominate
v.
(p. 83)
to propose that someone would be the right person to do a job
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RI.4.3 — Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.
RI.4.8 — Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text.
Standards that are practiced daily but are not priority standards of the unit
L.4.4 — Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 4 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
RF.4.3 — Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
RF.4.4 — Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
RI.4.1 — Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
RI.4.4 — Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area.
RI.4.10 — By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4—5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
SL.4.1 — Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
W.4.10 — Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Lesson 5
Lesson 7
Describe federalism and why the United States chose it as a form of government.
RI.4.2 RI.4.3
Explain what plan the Constitution made for the government of the United States.
Describe a few of the rights protected by the Bill of Rights.
Writing
Write a paragraph explaining what the Constitution of the United States is and why it is important.
W.4.2 W.4.2.a W.4.2.b W.4.2.c W.4.2.e
Explain what the sections "What Does the Government Look Like?," "The Three Branches," and "Checks and Balances" are mostly about.
RI.4.2 RI.4.7
RI.4.3 RI.4.8
Describe the difference between the Senate and House of Representatives and why they are both important.
RI.4.2 RI.4.3 RI.4.8
Explain how bills become laws and why there are so many steps.
RI.4.3
Explain what the Supreme Court is and why it's important using reasons and evidence from the text.
RI.4.2 RI.4.8
Discussion & Writing
Analyze and debate unit Essential Questions using details and understandings from the text.
SL.4.1 W.4.2 W.4.2.a W.4.2.b W.4.2.c W.4.2.e
Informative Writing – 4 days
Write an informational report about an act or amendment that is important in U.S. history.
L.4.1.f L.4.2 W.4.2 W.4.2.a W.4.2.b W.4.2.c W.4.5 W.4.6 W.4.7 W.4.8
Explain what candidates do to try and win an election.
RI.4.3 RI.4.7 RI.4.8
Debate if everyone has always had the right to vote.
Describe the evidence the author gives to support the point that "to be a woman in 1840 was to be less than a man."
Explain how an author uses reasons to show that a "once-promising strategy had reached a dead end."
Explain why the opposition to women's suffrage was so difficult to overturn.
Explain why the New York Times called the parade "one of the most impressively beautiful spectacles ever staged in this country"?
Explain who Harry Burn was and why he was important in the Women's Suffrage Movement.
Create a mini-poster highlighting the key contributions of a radical.
Explain why Dennis "Dioniso" Chavez was important.
Explain the role that Thurgood Marshall played in Brown v. Board of Education and what we can learn about him from his involvement in the case.
Explain how Thurgood Marshall wove equality into the fabric of American justice.
Explain who and what inspired Shirley Chisholm to get involved in politics and fight for change.
Explain who and what inspired Sonia Sotomayor to get involved in justice and fight for change.
Analyze how Barack Obama showed that "holding fast to hope despite obstacles is the first step to making any dream come true."
Debate and analyze unit Essential Questions.
SL.4.1
Assessment
Writing – 5 days
Research a local or national election and decide who you would vote for and why.
SL.4.1 W.4.1 W.4.1.a W.4.1.b W.4.2 W.4.2.a W.4.2.b W.4.2.c W.4.2.e W.4.7 W.4.8
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