Invite someone from each branch of government - judicial, legislative and executive - to your class to conduct a "group" interview.

Students should have already reviewed the structure of the U.S. and State government and learned the basic function of each of the three branches. Identify a representative from each branch to invite to class and research their background and position. Alternatively, the "interviews" may be arranged as part of a visit to the state government complex in Dover. Students should be able to brainstorm a list of questions as a group.

Variation: The interview may be conducted in written format. Students can draft a paragraph stating their focus or theme, along with their list of questions and a letter of request, and then send them to the politician (the teacher should get the politician's agreement to participate in advance). The responses can be divided and then read and analyzed in directed small groups.
Activity extension: After the interview, students can write an essay on the three branches of government using specific examples from the interviews as well as the background research done in class.

Topics and questions: For this grade cluster, questions should focus on the structures of government as described in the US and State constitutions and the responsibilities and powers of the judicial, legislative and executive branches. Questions ideally will reveal that governments must follow rules in regard to how it treats citizens and that citizens have responsibilities as well.

Standards: Social Studies-Civics; Social Studies-History; Language Arts-Written and Oral Communication; Language Arts-Research; Language Arts-Reading, Connecting Self to Society; Language arts-Reading, Examine meaning of text.