If you’re brand new to Civics or need to upgrade what you have, this is ready-to-go and fully loaded for you!

Challenge your students to see the why and how of this “most powerful” branch of government, including how their day-to-day operations don’t necessarily match with the Framers’ intentions, with this slide deck kit.

Here’s what’s included in this complete Legislative Branch Lecture Kit:

70-Slide Lecture

• Clean, modern look in Google Slides (one-click download to PowerPoint)
• Extensive teacher script on every slide
• Embedded animations to focus attention
• “Pause and Talk” reflection & processing questions at the end of each segment

2 Differentiated Versions of Accompanying Notes

• 4-Page guided notes for on-level students
• 4-Page more scaffolded fill-in-the-blank notes for support students
• Print PDF and Google Doc files of both sets
• Answer key included too!

50+ Question Test Bank

• Easily copy/paste questions to build quizzes and formative checks natively into your LMS or other platform
• Fill-in-the-blank, matching, short-answer, and open-ended questions included
• Answer key included too!

This lecture covers:

• Terminology: legislature, legislator, legislative
• Comparison to other nations & parliament system
• The bicameral system
• Founder’s intentions with an “upper” & “lower” house
• 17th Amendment
• Senator requirements & specific powers
• House of Representative requirements & specific powers
• Political party makeup of current Congress
• Senate Leadership & Current Members:
  – President and President Pro Tempore
  – Majority & Minority Leaders
  – Your state’s Senators
• Current House Leadership & Current Members:
  – Speaker of the House
  – Majority & Minority Leaders
  – Your Congressional District’s Representative
• Expressed or enumerated powers
  – Pass a budget, spend money, collect taxes, trade
  – Maintain military, declare war
  – Maintain post offices, roads, citizenship, patents & copyrights
  – Maintain federal lands
  – Necessary & Proper Clause
• How a bill becomes a law
  – Submission
  – In Committee
  – Floor Debate; filibuster
  – President sign, veto
• Illustrative recent & historical examples of all topics

This resource is 70 slides, 12 PDF pages, plus Google files.

What grades is this intended for?
This was designed for high school.

What supports are included? How can I modify this?
Lecture slides each have extensive notes/teacher scripts. Guided notes come in two formats, one with added scaffolding.  

Google versions of student materials and lecture slides are editable to tailor for your students’ needs. 

Can I use this in a homeschooling setting?

Sure! While a lecture tends to imply a large-group setting, these slides can still just as easily be used for self-paced independent learning.

Is this editable? What file types does this resource come in?
The lecture slides have editable text fields, but the backgrounds are secured. The slide deck is a Google Slides file that can be easily downloaded as a PPT. 

The guided notes come in both a secured, non-editable PDF file intended to be printed and an editable Google file. 

The test bank is an editable Google file to allow you to copy and paste questions to form your own assessments natively into your LMS.

What standards does this address?

Several! Standards vary, but this resource supports these from various states:

• Analyze the structure and functions of the legislative branch of government, including the bicameral structure of Congress, the role of committees, and the procedures for enacting laws
• Identify the methods for determining the number of members in the House and Senate
• Describe the enumerated and implied powers delegated to Congress

• Analyze the role of Congress in terms of its relationship with other branches

What are the terms of use for this resource?

This resource, including all ancillary files, may be used as needed for regular, non-commercial single-classroom use between a teacher and their students. 

This includes printing copies and sharing digital files with students through a secure platform, like Google Classroom or Canvas, email, or a classroom-only shared drive.

The using and sharing of any part of this resource in any manner outside the above-mentioned capacity is strictly prohibited. Prohibited uses include, but are not limited to,

• posting files on the open internet or in a Facebook group
• emailing files to or sharing print copies with others (without purchasing additional licenses)
• uploading or storing files in a shared cloud drive accessible by anyone other than students
• including any part, or any derivative work, within any commercial endeavor like curriculum development, professional training, or for-profit teaching like Outschool, or selling this resource as your own in either print or digital formats

Doing so violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), copyright law, and these terms.

By downloading this resource from Let’s Cultivate Greatness, the original user has been granted one license for a single teacher (or number of teachers matching the number of licenses purchased) and their students at any one time.  

Let’s Cultivate Greatness retains the full copyright of this resource.