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5th grade · Social Studies · Unit 3 of 10

Building a Government

Articles, Constitution and Bill of Rights

What your child practices

Why the Articles of Confederation were replaced, the compromises of 1787, the three branches, checks and balances, federalism and the Bill of Rights (1791).

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 5.C3.1; 5.C2.1 · the Constitution, the three branches of government and the Bill of Rights

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. The Constitution was written in Philadelphia in 1787. It begins “We the People”.
  2. Three branches: legislative (Congress makes laws), executive (the president carries them out), judicial (courts, including the Supreme Court).
  3. Each state has 2 senators. The first ten amendments are the Bill of Rights.

Example: Which branch includes the Supreme Court? Courts decide what laws mean. The courts make up the judicial branch. Answer: judicial

Building a Government in Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 3 of 10 in 5th grade Social Studies, after The American Revolution and before States & Capitals.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Arizona Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    The Great Compromise settled a fight between large and small states by…

    • Giving equal votes in the Senate and votes by population in the House
    • Making one state the boss
    • Getting rid of Congress
    • Letting only large states vote

  2. Question 2

    What was the first plan of government for the United States, used from 1781?

    • The Constitution
    • The Mayflower Compact
    • The Magna Carta
    • The Articles of Confederation

  3. Question 3

    What are the opening words of the Constitution?

    • "We the People"
    • "I pledge allegiance"
    • "Four score and seven years ago"
    • "When in the course"

  4. Question 4

    Which freedom is in the First Amendment?

    • Freedom of speech
    • The right to be king
    • Freedom from all rules
    • The right to free land

  5. Question 5

    Which branch carries out laws?

    • Legislative (Congress)
    • Judicial (the courts)
    • Executive (the president)
    • The states

  6. Question 6

    The Three-Fifths Compromise counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for…

    • Paying them wages
    • Freeing them
    • Deciding how many representatives a state got
    • Deciding who could vote

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