For The President, All In A Day's Work Print All Related Standards

Description

Students learn the primary responsibilities of the President and how those duties connect to the powers the Constitution grants to the Executive Branch. Students also learn about the types of issues the Executive Branch deals with and which federal agencies handle them.

Objectives

The student will ...

  • Analyze the difficult decisions the President must make by ranking a list of presidential responsibilities from most difficult to easiest.
  • Identify the powers of the Executive Branch by reading a selection from the U.S. Constitution.
  • Match presidential responsibilities with the specific Executive Branch powers listed in the Constitution.
  • Identify the federal agencies that handle a list of specific issues by matching the agencies with the issues. 

Lesson Prep

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All student and teacher materials
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Step by Step

ANTICIPATE by asking students to think of one thing they think the President does in his job as President. Give students a moment to think, then randomly call on students to share what they thought of.

DISTRIBUTE one “All in a Day’s Work” packet to each student.

READ the directions on the first page, “All in a Day’s Work,” with the class. 

ASK students to complete Groups A, B, and C on the “All in a Day’s Work” page. When they have finished, discuss each group of three tasks with the class. (Tasks are grouped in threes to make the ranking and discussion more manageable.) 

READ “Play by the Rules” with the class. Explain that this is the actual text of the Constitution. The President’s powers are underlined so they will be easier to spot. Discuss them as you read. 

READ the directions for “I’ve Got the Power” with the class. This matching exercise will help them link the tasks they ranked on the first page with the powers they read about in the Constitution excerpt on the second page.     

ASK students to complete the “I’ve Got the Power” matching activity. 

REVIEW the answers to the matching activity.   

READ the introduction to “So Many Laws, So Little Time!” with the class.     

ASK students to complete “So Many Laws, So Little Time!” word bank activity.   

REVIEW the answers to the word bank activity.

COLLECT the packets.

CLOSE by asking students to silently recall one power the President has.  Call on students until all 10 powers discussed in the lesson have been named. 

Recommended Sequence

After: 
Executive Command
Executive Roles: Money Doesn't Grow on Trees?

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