How a Bill Becomes a Law: Follow the Path

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Social Studies · Government and Civics
SP-GOV-006  ·  Free to print and use in your classroom  ·  substituteplans.com
Page 2
How a Bill Becomes a Law: Follow the Path
Social Studies · Government and Civics · Grades 8-10 · 45 minutes
Time needed
45 minutes (one class period)
Prep
Copy the 2-page worksheet (one per student).
Technology
None.
Student
independence
High. Students work alone with a short partner check.
Copies to make
One 2-page worksheet per student
Materials
Pencils, Worksheet
Goal for today: Students will sequence the steps by which a bill becomes law and calculate the number of votes
needed for passage and for overriding a veto.
Before the bell
☐ Copy the worksheet, one per student (2 pages).
☐ On the board, write: Congress = House (435 voting members) + Senate (100 members).
☐ Keep the answer key on your desk. The bill in the lesson is made up.
Say this to start
Good morning! Today we are following a made-up bill, the Trail Sign Act, as it travels through Congress and to the
President. You will put the steps in order, fill in key words, and do a little math on votes. Everything you need is on the
worksheet.
Run of show
Minutes
What you do
What students do
0–4
Take attendance. Hand out the worksheet. Read the board
note aloud.
Settle in and listen.
4–12
Tell students to read the passage silently.
Read the passage about the lawmaking
path.
12–20
Tell students to number the steps in Part A from 1 to 7.
Put the steps in order.
20–30
Tell students to complete the fill-in questions 1–4 using the
word bank.
Fill in each blank from the word bank.
30–41
Tell students to do the math in questions 5–7 and then
answer questions 8–12. Calculators are allowed if you have
them.
Do the vote math and answer the
remaining questions.
41–45
Read the order and answers from the key. Collect
worksheets and stack them for the teacher.
Check their work and hand in the
worksheet.
If things go wrong
• If students ask why the math uses a half or two-thirds, tell them the passage says a majority is more than half
and an override needs two-thirds.


SubstitutePlans.com
Social Studies · Government and Civics
SP-GOV-006  ·  Free to print and use in your classroom  ·  substituteplans.com
Page 3
• If students are confused about which chamber is which, point to the board note.
• If a student asks about real bills in the news, say today’s bill is made up so everyone can focus on how the
process works.
• If students finish early, use the early finisher list.
Early finishers
• Make up the name of a new bill about something at school. List where it would go first and what each stop
would do.
• Draw a flowchart of the path of a bill on the back of the worksheet.
Support and challenge
• Support: Let students use a calculator and complete only questions 1–8.
• Challenge: Ask students to explain why the two-thirds rule makes overriding a veto hard.
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: