Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

The Three Branches of Government

4th grade nonfiction passage about government: 187 words, seven questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade nonfiction government 187 words

The Three Branches of Government

The United States government is divided into three parts, called branches. Each branch has its own job. The rules for the branches are written in the Constitution, the most important set of laws in the country.

The legislative branch makes the laws. It is called Congress, and it has two parts, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Voters choose the members of Congress.

The executive branch carries out the laws. The President leads this branch, with help from the Vice President and many workers who run government offices.

The judicial branch decides what laws mean. It is made up of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. Judges decide whether a law was followed and whether it agrees with the Constitution.

Why split the power in three? The writers of the Constitution did not want any one person or group to have too much of it. So each branch can check the others. Congress can pass a law, and the President can refuse to sign it. The courts can decide that a law does not agree with the Constitution. This system is called checks and balances.

Questions

  1. What are the three branches of the United States government? in the text

  2. Which branch makes the laws, and what is it called? in the text

  3. What are the two parts of Congress? in the text

  4. Who leads the executive branch? in the text

  5. What does the judicial branch do? in the text

  6. Why did the writers of the Constitution split the power into three branches? think about it

  7. What is an example of one branch checking another? think about it

Words to know

branch
one of the three main parts of the government
Constitution
the most important set of laws in the United States
legislative
having to do with making laws
executive
having to do with carrying out laws
judicial
having to do with courts and judges
checks and balances
the way each branch can limit the power of the others

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put branch, Constitution, legislative, executive, judicial and checks and balances on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 6 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "The Three Branches of Government"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 187 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.5. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are seven. 5 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

Nothing you do here is sent to us. No sign-in, no ads.