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Introduction House of Representatives The Senate Making Laws The Veto

  

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Books & Reading

Books & Reading

Can Congress write any law it wants?

Do you think that the two houses of Congress are a good idea? Does this system seem fair? If not who benefits?

If both houses of Congress pass a compromise bill, where does it go?


14 Units to Learn How a Bill Becomes a Law


 

House of Representatives The Senate Making Laws The Veto

 
Making Laws

Bills on the Move
http://www.congressforkids.net/games/makinglaws/
billsonmove_intro.htm
A three-level matching quiz to show the path a bill takes on its way to becoming a law. Select the correct description from the right and drag it to the left to match the footsteps to show the path a bill takes on its way to becoming a law. When finished, check your score to see if you earn 100% and continue to the next level.

Civil Rights Self-Quiz
http://www.congressforkids.net/games/makinglaws/civilrights-vocabulary.htm
An interactive 3-tiered self-quiz about the civil rights era from 1954-1968. Includes a vocabulary quiz and 2 multiple-choice quizzes. You must pass each quiz to advance to the next level of questioning.

How a Bill Becomes a Law http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/teacher_lessons/3branches/15c.htm
Information and tasks about how both parts of the legislative branch are involved in the lawmaking process

I Have a Dream
http://www.windmillworks.com/gamesonline/clozegames/dream.htm
Fill in all the gaps of several excerpts of the speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.

I'm Just a Bill
http://www.apocalypse.org/pub/u/gilly/Schoolhouse_Rock/
HTML/history/bill.html
Using music to teach social studies.

Martin Luther King “I Have a Dream"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk
YouTube Video

Martin Luther King, Jr. Cryptogram
http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/misc/mlk/cry/
Unscramble the words by placing the correct letter in the shaded boxes. Use the numbered boxes to complete the answer to the riddle.

Sixties Expert...Who Me? -- The 1960's and Civil Rights Legislation
http://www.congressforkids.net/games/makinglaws/
1960s-civilrights.ppt
This WebQuest was developed to introduce students to the idea that political parties occasionally work together to achieve legislative results. Often the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is assumed to have been strictly the result of Democrats' efforts to guarantee equal rights for all Americans. This assignment clearly shows that civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s owed its passage to the support of both political parties. The lesson asks students to take on the role of an average high school senior asked to do research about the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Stand Up For Your Rights
http://pbskids.org/wayback/civilrights//
This site talks about civil rights.  It features such subjects as  women and the vote, school desegregation, and religious freedom.  Profiled are Anne Hutchinson, Alice Paul, and Little Rock, Arkansas. Do you think you know a thing or two about civil rights?  If so, while visiting this site test your civil rights brainpower by taking the short, challenging quiz found on the PBS American Experience Game Space.

The 1960's and Civil Rights Legislation
http://www.congressforkids.net/games/makinglaws/
1960s-civilrights.htm
Choose the correct answer for each question. Check your answers by clicking on the "Well...How Did I Do?" button at the end of the quiz.

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Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.

Surf with Uncle Sam
Surf with Uncle Sam

Word Spy
Word Spy

Projects You Can Do

Children and teens often see laws as big don'ts that someone has imposed upon them to take away their freedom. This project idea will give you a chance to visualize the step-by-step process of how an idea becomes a law and how involved the process is.

Make a list of the 14 steps of a "Bill to law." Write out the three actions the President may take and explain each. Think about the definition of the term "override." With a friend or alone decide on a motif or theme for a poster. Create a poster by arranging the motif or theme to illustrate the steps of a bill to become a law.

 

Awards

 

The Dirksen Congressional CenterCopyright 2008