Read Kansas! Middle School - M-28 Populism and Governor Lewelling
This middle level lesson provides a brief background of the rise of the People's Party or Populism and focuses on the role this party played in helping Kansans in need. Students will analyze primary source documents including a letter from a farmer's wife and Governor Lorenzo Lewelling's Executive Circular. If students have previous knowledge of Populism, the teacher may choose not to use "The Populist Party" card with the lesson. This would shorten the lesson from two days to one.
To view a PDF of the front and back, click on the card
7th Grade Kansas History Standards:
- Benchmark 4, Indicator 2: The student describes the development of Populism in Kansas (i.e., disillusionment with big Eastern business, railroads, government corruption, high debts and low prices for farmers).
7th Grade Reading Standards:
- Benchmark 3, Indicator 1: The student determines meanings of words or phrases using context clues (e.g., definitions, restatements, examples, descriptions, comparison-contrast, clue words) from sentences or paragraphs.
- Benchmark 4, Indicator 8: The student explains cause-effect relationships in appropriate-level narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive texts.
- Benchmark 4, Indicator 9: The student identifies the topic, main idea(s), supporting details, and theme(s) in text across the content areas and from a variety of sources in appropriate level texts.
Common Core Reading Standards:
- RH.6-8.4: The student determines the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
- RH.6-8.5: The student describes how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally).
- RH.6-8.1: The student determines the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provides an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
