Lesson 4, Lets Write a Bill

Disciplinary Unit: Lesson Plan Format

Student Name: Malory Brunett
I. General Information:
Grade Level: 6th
Discipline: Social Studies/History
Unit Topic: How a Bill Becomes Law
Time Frame: 45 minutes, 2 class periods
Text: Congress by Suzanne Levert
Other Materials: House Mouse, Senate Mouse by Peter W.
Barnes, Writing Student Congress Bills Made Easy
II. Standards/Indicators
Maryland State Curriculum: Social Studies, Grade 6
Standard 1.0 Political Science
Students will understand the historical development and
current status of the fundamental concepts and processes of
authority, power, and influence, with particular emphasis on
democratic skills and attitudes necessary to become
responsible citizens.
Topic A. The Foundations and Function of Government
1. Examine the necessity and purpose of government in early
world history
Maryland Common Core State Curriculum: Writing in History/Social
Studies Grades 6-8
CCR Anchor Standard #4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development,
organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and
audience.
WHST.6-8.4

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Lesson 4, Lets Write a Bill

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development,
organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and
audience.
III. Lesson Objectives
Students will be able to,
1. Describe the components of a an effective bill
2. Examine whether or not a bill has each necessary factor in order
to eventually pass through Congress
3. Produce and write a classroom bill
IV. Procedures:
Introduction:
o To begin this lesson, we will review what a bill is, the steps of
how a bill becomes a law, and how the Senate and House of
Representatives play an important role. I will then set up the
scenario that our classroom is like a government. I will ask the
students to provide me with issues they feel very strongly about
that happen in our class. As they are providing suggestions, I
will record them on the board. I will then explain that we are
going to learn how to write a bill. We are going to pick one issue
to target and construct a bill about. Then the students are going
to write their own.
Teaching/Activities:
Day 1 (Suggested timeline, subject to change)
1) Before we revisit our ideas, I will present the students with how
to write a bill. A format created by The Ohio High School
Speech League (ohssl.org) will be used to outline our bill.
a. The first step is picking an idea, which is what we already
accomplished. The class will take a vote on the issue they
would most like to address in our classroom.
b. The second step is to consider what needs to happen in
order for our law to be effective including how it will be
funded and enforced. At this time, students can work in
small groups to discuss what they believe the bill needs to
become law in our classroom.
c. The third step is to begin drafting. The draft will need to
include 4 sections which are explained in the format. As a
class, we will create a rough draft of our bill. I will have
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Lesson 4, Lets Write a Bill

the bill displayed through the document
camera/SMARTBoard.
2) Once all the steps are explained, the students and I will work to
create a rough draft of our bill.
a. When the class has produced a complete draft, I will then
allow the students to work in partners to create a final
draft of the class bill. They will have the remainder of
class to create their final draft.
Day 2
1) If the students need more time to work on their group final
drafts, they can be given time at the beginning of class.
2) Each pair will present their final draft to the class.
a. While a pair is presenting, students listening will need to
pay attention to things they liked about each groups bill.
Also, if a group made a mistake, students need to politely
point out an error so it can be addressed.
3) After all the bills have been presented, we will discuss some of
the best parts of bills to be included in the class final draft.
4) As a class, we will write the final draft bill to be referred to when
they are writing their own bills.
a. The final activity will be the students writing their own
bill about another issue they feel strongly about. They will
be provided with an outline to use, but they may not write
about the class bill created.
b. This will be individual and must be word processed.
5) Creating their own bills make take 1-2 class periods. Students
may have peers or teacher help.
6) These bills will be turned in for a grade once complete.
Closure:
o To wrap up the lesson, I will read to the class House Mouse,
Senate Mouse. During and after reading, I will encourage the
students to make connections to what we have learned so far.
VI. Evaluation/Assessment:
Assessment of Objectives:
o The students individual written bills will serve as the formative
assessment. The bills will be scored on a scale from 1, 3, 5. 1
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Lesson 4, Lets Write a Bill

being the bill needs a lot of work, 3 being the bill is average but
usable, and 5 being excellent.

______________s Bill
A BILL TO
1. (Title)

2. Be it enacted by this Student Congress that (Write the main idea

that you want to happen.)

3. Section 1: (If necessary, explain your idea further. You may need even
more sections to outline the idea fully.

4. Section 2: (Explain how the law will be enforcedwho will do it, what
will the penalties be? You might decide to use subsections to present these
points in an outline form.)

5. Section 3: (State how the legislation will be funded if it will require a

public expenditurean additional tax, a surcharge on some product or
service, a different allocation of current funds, etc.)

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Lesson 4, Lets Write a Bill

6. Section 4: (State directly when the legislation will take effect and what
current law(s) will be superseded by the proposed law.)
(Source: www.ohssl.org/ohsslfiles/congress/writing_bills.rtf)

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