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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

What do elections and wildflowers have in common? Check out this new lesson plan to find out.

Looking for a nonpartisan way to teach your fourth through seventh graders about campaigns and elections? One that also has them developing research skills with a science focus and exploring primary sources in the form of historic newspapers? Check out the latest addition to our lesson plans: Montana’s State Flower: A Lesson in Civic Engagement.

This seven-period, Common Core-aligned unit asks students to recreate (and investigate) the 1894 Floral Emblem campaign organized by Bozeman suffragist Mary Long Alderson. Alderson organized the campaign on the advice of Susan B. Anthony, who believed that such non-controversial "practice" campaigns could teach women the political skills they needed to win the right to vote.

This lesson is designed to introduce your students to electoral politics, just as the original floral emblem campaign introduced women to the political process,

Try it out and let me know what you think!




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