Boards, Owners and Parliament
A 50-minute Grade 4 lesson on which body held which power, including the ones nobody elected.
Boards, Owners and Parliament is a free 50-minute Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies lesson plan for Common Core standard D2.Civ.1.3-5 — tell apart what officials at different levels of government can and cannot do. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the mathematics, names 3 misconceptions with the teaching move that addresses each, and ends with an exit ticket and a printable worksheet with its answer key.
- Grade:
- Grade 3 to Grade 5
- Length:
- 50 minutes
- Standard:
- D2.Civ.1.3-5
Grade 3 to Grade 5 · Civics
D2.Civ.1.3-5
Distinguish the responsibilities and powers of government officials at various levels and branches of government and in different times and places.
Objective
Students will be able to name which body decided a question and whether it answered to anybody.
Students are successful when they can
- Names the body that held a power.
- Says who that body answered to.
- Distinguishes a public body from a private one.
What you need
- The school board minute and the mill gate notice
- Twelve decision cards
- The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan
The lesson
Warm-up — who set the wage?
5 min- Ask who decided that wages would fall by a shilling in the pound.
- Ask who they had to persuade first. Establish that the answer is nobody.
Teach — power, and who it answers to
17 min- Place Parliament: it makes the law that children must attend school.
- Place the school board: it decides whether half-time working continues here.
- Ask who the board answers to. The ratepayers who elected it.
- Place the mill owners: they set the wage rate. Ask who they answer to. Their own company.
- Place the harbour board: it sets dues, and publishes them.
- Say the distinction plainly: a public body can be voted out; a private one can only be left.
- Take the medical officer: appointed, not elected, but required to publish. A third kind.
“Who could remove this body if it decided badly?”
Guided practice — place and label
15 min- Pairs place twelve decision cards and label each body public or private.
- For four, they name who that body answered to.
- Groups argue one card where the labelling divided them.
Independent practice
10 min- Students complete the 'Boards, Owners and Parliament' page.
- Check reasons name accountability, not size.
Close
3 min- Ask which of today's decisions about their lives are taken by private bodies.
What goes wrong, and why
Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.
Assumes anything important is decided by government.
Why: Importance maps onto authority.
Fix: The wage cut affected thousands and no elected body voted on it.
Thinks a private body's decisions are not really power.
Why: Power sounds official.
Fix: Ask what happened to a hand who refused. Paid off. That is power.
Thinks an appointed officer is the same as an elected one.
Why: Both are public.
Fix: The officer answers by publishing, the board by facing an election. Different checks.
If they are not there yet
- Six cards and two body labels.
- Give the body and ask whether it was public or private.
If they finish early
- Find a decision that a public and a private body shared.
- Say which of these powers has moved since 1893.
- Argue that one private power should have been public.
Exit ticket
Who decided the wage at Albion Mill, and who could remove them if the decision was wrong?
What to look for: The owners, answering to nobody electoral. Naming the board or Parliament means the public-private line needs another run.
Printable practice for D2.Civ.1.3-5
Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.
- Boards, Owners and ParliamentDraw a line from each body to what it decides.
Questions about Boards, Owners and Parliament
How long does the Boards, Owners and Parliament lesson take?
50 minutes, split across 5 timed sections: warm-up 5 min, teach 17 min, guided practice 15 min, independent practice 10 min, close 3 min. The minutes are stated per section and add up to the stated length, so the plan can be cut or extended at a section boundary rather than abandoned halfway.
Which standard does Boards, Owners and Parliament teach?
D2.Civ.1.3-5 — D2.Civ.1.3-5, Civics for Grade 3 to Grade 5: “Distinguish the responsibilities and powers of government officials at various levels and branches of government and in different times and places.” In plain terms, tell apart what officials at different levels of government can and cannot do.
What do I need to teach this lesson?
The school board minute and the mill gate notice, twelve decision cards and the printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan. Everything listed is either ordinary classroom equipment or a free printable from this site — there is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare beyond photocopying.
What mistakes should I expect in this lesson?
Three, each a reasoning error rather than carelessness: assumes anything important is decided by government; thinks a private body's decisions are not really power and thinks an appointed officer is the same as an elected one. The plan gives the thinking behind each one and the teaching move that addresses the thinking rather than the symptom.
How do I know whether the lesson worked?
The exit ticket asks: “Who decided the wage at Albion Mill, and who could remove them if the decision was wrong?.” The owners, answering to nobody electoral. Naming the board or Parliament means the public-private line needs another run. That tells you whether the class needs a reteach or a thirty-second conversation before you plan tomorrow.
Is there a worksheet to go with Boards, Owners and Parliament?
Yes — 1 printable D2.Civ.1.3-5 worksheet, linked at the end of the plan and free like the rest of the site. Each one comes with an answer key and 25 versions, so the practice after the lesson can be a different paper on every desk.
Is Boards, Owners and Parliament free to use?
Yes. The plan, its printables and their answer keys are free to read, print and photocopy for your own class, with no account and no email capture. It was last reviewed on 7 September 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.
Last reviewed 2026-09-07. Aligned to D2.Civ.1.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.