Our Federal System of Government
Session 35: Checks and Balances (Human Chart Activity)

Materials

• Construction paper
• Markers

Instructional Activities

1. Explain that early this year students studied the federal system of checks and balances in their study of the Constitution of the United States. Ask them to look back in their notebooks to this section. Point out the pertinent section in the text that contains checks and balances chart showing the relationship of the three branches of government.
   
   
2. Explain that now that they have studied each of these branches they are going to revisit checks and balances by creating a human chart.
   
   
3. Divide the class into three groups (Legislative, Executive, and Judicial). Within each group, students should write each example of a check their branch has on a separate sheet of paper (e.g., Congress checks the Courts by approving judges). When they are finished, each group will have three to seven checks their branch has on the other two. Ask students to create a sign to denote their branch--a placard similar to the Olympic signs countries used to march into the opening ceremony works best.
   
   
4. Designate three locations, one for each branch. One student in each group leads a march of their group members to the location. Different students should hold construction paper listing of the checks.
   
   
5. Go from one branch to the other. The student holding the check should turn to face the branch it checks and explain in his or her own words what the check is and why it is important. (If they have trouble with this, another member of the group may help.)  Continue until all three branches have their turn.