The educational publisher Pearson/Scott-Foresman in 2006 introduced curriculum to address California History/Social Studies standards. Fifth grade students have difficulty comprehending non-fiction text that is informative enough to have historical accuracy. The publisher promotes a program that features a standard in every lesson, and promises no…

California State Standard 5.8 is delineated in the following way: "Students trace the colonization, immigration, and settlement patterns of the American people from 1789 to the mid-1800s, with emphasis on the role of economic incentives, effects of the physical and political geography, and transportation systems." Students answer six…

California State Standard 5.7 is delineated in the following manner: "Students describe the people and events associated with the development of the U.S. Constitution and analyze the Constitution's significance as the foundation of the American republic." Students answer six questions about the Constitution and present suggestions for…

In 2002, the University of California, San Diego ArtsBridge America program initiated a project that was designed to address the lack of standards-based geography content and culture-based arts instruction within San Diego elementary schools.

In teaching fifth-grade outdoor education in the forest and in an old gold rush town, the outdoor education staff seldom uses textbooks but does use many reading/communication techniques to help transfer knowledge of many disciplines in a direct way. (Author/SB)

Presents a classroom teacher's experiences in preparing a fifth-grade class for the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) test. Discusses an integrated curriculum approach, disagreements between teacher associations and the state department of education, and student and parent attitudes toward the test. (CFR)

This handbook outlines the grade 5 course entitled "People of a Nation: The United States." A statement of the California philosophy of history-social studies education precedes the handbook's three sections. The first two sections present major goals of the overall program, an overview of social studies content for grades K-6, and a…