lesson plan/notes to accompany lesson on how a bill becomes a law

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFroMQlKiag
How a Bill Becomes a Law
Bill is introduced in the House of Representatives and assigned to a
Committee, which refers to a Subcommittee.
Members of a Subcommittee studythe bill,hold hearings,and debate
provisions. Edit and markup the bill. If it passes it goes to Committee.
Full Committee considers the bill. If it approves the bill in some form, the
bill goes to the Rules Committee.
The Rules Committee looks at bill and issues rules for the debate of the bill
on the floor. Sends the bill to the Full House of Representatives.
The House debates the bill and may amend it. Once a simple majority vote
has been reached on the House floorthe bill goes to the Senate.
The Bill is introduced to the Senate and assigned to a Committee which
refers to a Subcommittee.
Members of a Subcommittee studythe bill,hold hearings,and debate
provisions. Edit and markup the bill. If it passes it goes to Committee.
Full Committee of the Senate considers the bill. If it approves the bill in
some form, the bill will go to the Senate floor.
The Full Senate debates the bill and may amend it. Filibusters are possible
here. If it is different from the House version,the bill must go to a
Conference Committee.
Senators and Representatives meet to reconcile differences between bills in
a Conference Committee. When agreement is reached, a compromise bill is
sent back to the Full Senate.
The Full Senate Votes on the bill,if it passes it goes to the President.
The President can sign or veto the bill.

2. Congress can override a veto by 2/3 majorityvote in the House and Senate.
Mini-Lesson: How a Bill becomes a Law
1. Divide the class into groups of 3 or 4.
2. Hand out the paper above, cut into strips, to the groups. (I will have my T.A.’s prepare
these for you)
3. Give the groups about 3 minutes to try and put the strips in order on a desk in the
center of their group. Assess how close they came and recognize any groups that
completed the task correctly, but do not share the answers with the class yet.
4. Play the “Schoolhouse Rock, I’m Just a Bill”, then give the students 1 minute to make
corrections to the order of their paper if needed. (I have the video ready on a
PowerPoint, you will just need to click.)
5. As a class have the groups share their work until everyone has the strips in the right
order. Once this is accomplished have the groups answer the following questions about
the law making process based on this activity: (Assessment)
a. Where does most of the work in the law making process take place? Provide
two examples.
b. Where can a filibuster occur?
c. How does this process show a balance of power between the President and
Congress?
*You can choose how you want to collect this assessment. You can have them write the
answers down and turn them in, they can share and correct together as a class, etc… I am
going to give them a participation score of 15 possible based on your evaluation of the
activity.*