1. Pass out a packet of seeds to each person in class. (Optional) Tell the class that they have just "cultivated" or grown these seeds and packaged them. Now how would they go about selling them if they had a lot of them? (Allow for various responses. Some responses could include: selling at a nursery/garden shop, selling them online, they may choose to go door-to-door like the Girl Scouts, etc.)

2. Explain that a man from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania named W. Atlee Burpee created a seed company in 1876 that by 1890 had become the largest seed-order company in the world! Show W. Atlee Burpee on overhead transparency. He relied on mail-order to do most of his business. His business still exists today.

3. Show Burpee female employees working in the seed packing plant and Men at work.

Ask students what the employees are doing in these pictures? [The women are packing the seeds into envelopes. The men are boxing them up and getting them ready for shipping.]

4. Ask students, "What do you need in order to have a successful mail-order business?"
See if you can create a list on the board from their responses that includes:

· Mail service
· Good product
· Promotion/advertising
· Customers

5. Now let's see if W. Atlee Burpee had all of these components and how he met them. Divide the class into three groups. One group for each of the mail-order business components listed above (with the exception of customers). Customers are discussed within the context of the other components.

Group 1-Mail Service

Rural Free Delivery Historical Marker Page
rural road
John Wanamaker
Bringing the news to the farm

Student Worksheet 1-Rural Free Delivery and Parcel Post

For reference:
Parcel Post Delivery of Dreams
http://www.sil.si.edu/ondisplay/parcelpost/intro.htm


Group 2-Quality products

Student Handout 1-Creating Quality Products

Student Worksheet 2-Creating Quality Products


Group 3-Promotion/advertising

Student Handout 2-Burpee's Advertising

Student Worksheet 3-Burpee's Advertising


6. After everyone has completed his/her worksheet, create new groups. Each new group should have at least one student from each of the previous groups representing the different business components (mail service/quality products/promotion).

7. In their new groups, students should discuss and answer the question:

Did W. Atlee Burpee have all the components for a successful seed business?

(With the exception of rural free delivery and parcel post service, which did not transpire until later, Burpee had all the components to create a great seed business. Once mail service was available, his business quickly profited from it.)

8. Explain that tomorrow they are going to create their own business. As a group, students should decide on the product that they are going to provide. When students are considering what products to choose, remind them that Burpee marketed seeds, in part, because his customers were requesting them. He saw that there was a need (an economic demand) for supplying farmers with good seeds. Have students try to identify a product that fulfills a need today. They can invent a product if they like. Encourage students to think about their own daily experiences and draw inspiration from that.


Day Two

1. Recreate the same groups from the end of Day One. Tell the students that it is their turn to create a business using the same business components they learned from W. Atlee Burpee.

2. Disseminate their final assignment, Student Worksheet 4-Our Business Plan. Also provide poster paper and markers at the front of the class for students to use for their advertisement if desired.

3. At the end of class and/or the beginning of the next class have each team present their business plan and advertising piece. You may also show them the grading rubric in advance so they can see how they are being grading.