Bridge Map

It is hard to believe that we have wrapped up our study of the three branches of our national government!  That means that we are moving onto Virginia State for the next few weeks and it a great time to start reviewing for SOLs.  I know, that statement blows my mind as it is still February and the testing isn't until May.  

Last week I made some brace maps. Brace maps are a type of thinking map that our county uses in every school.  Personally, I am a huge fan of them for many reasons.  If you are not familiar with brace maps click here.  There are 8 different thinking maps: circle, bubble, double bubble, tree, brace, flow, multi-flow and bridge maps.  They align with Blooms taxonomy- circle is the lowest while bridge is the highest.  With the bridge map the student have to see similarities and connections between two different ideas.  When I see bridge map I think of those SAT questions that were the analogy questions- I found this one on Kaplan:

MEDICINE : ILLNESS ::

 law : anarchy hunger : thirst etiquette : discipline love : treason                                                                                                  stimulant : sensitivity   

This week we are going to be discussing the three branches of the Virginia government. The Legislative, which makes the laws for Virginia is made of the General Assembly.  The General Assembly is made of the House of Delegates with 100 members and the Virginia Senate with 40 members.  I could have made one for the legislative branch that compared the houses of Congress and the General Assembly...maybe I'll add that.  Then the Executive branch is headed by the Governor.  Then the Judicial branch is headed by the Virginia Supreme Court with 7 justices.

Here is the first one.  I can't write small enough to get them on the same sheet.

The process is you draw the bridge and then underneath that you draw a line for the relating factor.  Notice that I put national on the left for all three of them and then put state on the right side.  

The other thing I really like about thinking maps is that they are easily differentiated.  For your higher groups you could model one with a non-government bridge map, give them directions and send them on there way.  With a middle group you could give them the relating factor and let them fill it in.  For the lower groups you could give them a filled in bridge map with the newest legislative body not filled in and they would have to add it.  

I hope you enjoy your President's Day! 

Happy Teaching!

C