Checks and Balances: Who Can Stop Whom?

SubstitutePlans.com
Social Studies · Government and Civics
SP-GOV-002 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 2
Checks and Balances: Who Can Stop Whom?
Social Studies · Government and Civics · Grades 8-10 · 50 minutes
Time needed
50 minutes (one class period)
Prep
Copy the 2-page worksheet (one per student). Write the three branch names on the board.
Technology
None.
Student
independence
High. Students work alone, then compare with a partner.
Copies to make
One 2-page worksheet per student
Materials
Pencils, Worksheet, Whiteboard or chalkboard
Goal for today: Students will identify specific checks that each branch of the federal government has over the others
and explain why the framers separated powers.
Before the bell
☐ Copy the worksheet, one per student (2 pages).
☐ Write on the board: Legislative = makes laws (Congress). Executive = carries out laws (President). Judicial =
explains laws (courts).
☐ Keep the answer key on your desk; it has every answer.
Say this to start
Good morning! Today is about how the United States government keeps any one group from getting too powerful. The
three branches each have ways to limit the others. You will match real-style situations to the check being used, then
invent a check of your own. Everything you need is on the worksheet and the board.
Run of show
Minutes
What you do
What students do
0–5
Take attendance. Hand out the worksheet. Read the board
notes aloud: legislative, executive, judicial.
Settle in and listen to the three branch
definitions.
5–10
Read the worksheet directions aloud and say: “Power is
split up so no one branch can do everything.” Ask for one
example of a group where power is shared, such as a team
with a captain and a coach.
Share one example of shared power, then
get ready to work.
10–25
Tell students to complete Part A (matching, questions 1–6).
Walk the room. If a student is stuck, ask, “Which branch is
acting, and which branch is being limited?”
Match each scenario to the check it shows.
25–38
Tell students to complete questions 7–13 (multiple choice
and true/false).
Answer the questions independently.
38–46
Tell students to fill in the branch table and write their own
check in question 14. Partners may compare ideas quietly.
Complete the table and design a new
check.
46–50
Read answers 1–13 aloud from the key. Collect worksheets
and stack them for the teacher.
Mark their answers and hand in the
worksheet.

SubstitutePlans.com
Social Studies · Government and Civics
SP-GOV-002 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 3
If things go wrong
• If students say they have not learned this, tell them the scenarios have clues in them (words like veto, court,
vote, appoint). Pair them with a neighbor.
• If a student says one of the scenarios is unfair or political, remind them all scenarios are made-up examples
about how the system works, not about any real person or party.
• If students finish very early, check that the table has a check for each branch, then use the early finisher list.
• If students are noisy, make Part B silent and allow quiet partner talk only in Part C.
Early finishers
• Write a three-sentence story where each branch limits another branch.
• Explain how a school could use checks and balances among a principal, a student council, and a discipline
committee.
Support and challenge
• Support: Let students complete the matching section with a partner, and do only two rows of the table.
• Challenge: Ask students to find a check that appears to go in both directions between two branches and
explain it.
Notes for the teacher (you fill this in)
Jot a few lines before you leave. A full Daily Sub Report is in the free Sub Survival Kit at SubstitutePlans.com.
How far the class got / what to pick up next:
Students who were especially helpful:
Anything the teacher should know: