Constitution Challenge

Making a Law

Overview
In this activity, students use the same process as the government to create a law for their school.

Scenario
You have an idea that you’d like to see made into a law at school. You go to the principal and explain your idea, which he says he’ll consider only if you follow the same procedures that the government follows. You don’t know what that procedure is, so you ask your teacher to help you. He tells you that you can use class time to try to get this new law passed.

This lesson activity takes students through the process of making a law in the same manner that the government does it.

A PowerPoint presentation on the process of making a law is available at http://www.WesternReservePublicMedia.org/constitution.

Standards — Social Studies
Grade 5
Government, Benchmark A

1. Explain major responsibilities of each of the three branches of the U.S. government:

a. The legislative branch, headed by Congress, passes laws.
b. The executive branch, headed by the president, carries out and enforces the laws made by Congress.
c. The judicial branch, headed by the Supreme Court, interprets and applies the law.

Grade 8
Government, Benchmark B

8. Describe the process by which a bill becomes a law.

Procedure
Have the students research some background information on how a law is made. They can go to the Constitution Challenge Web site for links that offer more information.

Do a simulation of making a law using the following steps:

Divide the class in half. One half represents the House of Representatives; the other half is the Senate. (If you are working with multiple classes, you could have some of the classes be the House and others be the Senate.)
Have the students fold a piece of paper into quarters. Then ask them to write one idea for a new law on each quarter of the paper.
Divide each side (House and Senate) into smaller groups (committees) and divide the ideas for laws so that each group has some. If there is time, divide them by topic and have each group look at a single topic. At this point, the ideas are now called bills.
The students in each House committee review all of the suggestions for a new law (bill) and come to a consensus on which ideas they wish to debate as a full House. They then write the law and include in it how they want it enforced. A 51 percent vote is necessary to send a bill to the full House to debate.
If there is time, the House groups may come together as a House of Representatives and debate some, or all, of the bills approved in committees. Otherwise they simply vote on each bill as a full House. Those bills approved by 51 percent will be sent to the Senate.
The students in the Senate use the same process as the House with their bills. The students in each Senate committee review all of the suggestions for new laws and come to a consensus as to which ideas they wish to debate as a full Senate. They then write the bill and include in it how they want it enforced. A 51 percent vote is necessary to send a bill to the full Senate to debate.
If there is time, the Senate groups may come together and debate some, or all, of the bills approved in committees. Otherwise, they simply vote on each bill as a full Senate. Those bills that are approved by 51 percent or more are then sent to the House.
Bills that have been approved by both the House and Senate are ready for a president’s decision, unless changes were made by one of the groups after it passed the House or Senate. For example, a bill is passed in the House and sent to the Senate, where a committee made changes to it and then it was passed by the full Senate.
If there is disagreement about the wording or the enforcement, a committee is selected (made up of people from both the House and the Senate) that tries to reach agreement on new wording or enforcement. (This could also be done with the whole class.)
Changes are then made. Choices are sent to both houses for another vote.
Once the students have decided on the law they wish to make, they submit it to the Executive Branch (which would be the teacher or principal) to be approved or vetoed.
If the principal or teacher signs it, it becomes a law.
If the principal or teacher vetoes it, it has to go back to the House and Senate and be approved by a two-thirds vote of each.
Enrichment: Somebody sued over the law, so it has to be taken to the Supreme Court (another teacher or principal) to determine if the law conforms to the Constitution. Class input should be given as to why their law is constitutional and a brief, written by the class, would be submitted to the person representing the Supreme Court.

At the completion of the process, students will write a report or make a graphic organizer that shows how a bill becomes a law.

Time Frame
The simulation part of this lesson could be done in one class period if you want the students to simply understand the process. It could also go on for several days if you want more depth in the activity.

The report would take an additional class period or could be assigned as homework.

Evaluation
The following rubric may be used to evaluate the report written by the students.

CATEGORY	10	7	4	0
Sequencing (Organization)	Details are placed in a logical order, and the way they are presented effectively keeps the interest of the reader.	Details are placed in a logical order, but the way in which they are presented/introduced sometimes makes the writing less interesting.	Some details are not in a logical or expected order, and this distracts the reader.	Many details are not in a logical or expected order. There is little sense that the writing is organized.
Grammar and Spelling (Conventions)	Writer makes no grammar or spelling errors that distract the reader from the content.	Writer makes one or two grammar or spelling errors that distract the reader from the content.	Writer makes three or four grammar or spelling errors that distract the reader from the content.	Writer makes more than four grammar or spelling errors that distract the reader from the content.
Sentence Structure (Sentence Fluency)	All sentences are well-constructed with varied structure.	Most sentences are well-constructed with varied structure.	Most sentences are well-constructed but have a similar structure.	Sentences lack structure and appear incomplete or rambling.

The following rubric may be used to evaluate the graphic organizer.

CATEGORY	20	13	6	0
Labels — Accuracy	100 percent of the items are labeled and show the process.	Most of the items are labeled and show the process.	Some of the items are labeled and show the process.	Organizer is incorrect.
Spelling/Capitalization	95 percent to 100 percent of words on the organizer are spelled and capitalized correctly.	94 percent to 85 percent of the words on the organizer are spelled and capitalized correctly.	84 percent to 75 percent of the words on the organizer are spelled and capitalized correctly.	Less than 75 percent of the words on the organizer are spelled and/or capitalized correctly.