In each edition of their book "Doing History: Investigating with Children in Elementary and Middle Schools", Levstik and Barton (2011) encourage us to take a mental journey to imagine classrooms where students regularly "do history" (xi). The social studies experiences that many educators envision for elementary classrooms…

In many schools today, all or a significant portion of the allocated social studies period is being creatively transformed to provide additional preparation time for state-mandated reading and writing high-stakes testing. Many educators and parents understand the need for improved literacy instruction; however, they are concerned about the civic…

Presents a rationale for teaching reading in social studies and describes various types of guides which teachers can use to assist students with reading, thinking, and reviewing. Topics discussed include rewriting material, using the textbook as a guide, reinforcing learning, and creating word recognition exercises. (Author/DB)

Social studies is an information-laden subject, with much of the required information in textbooks. Although text-books are only one medium for learning social studies content, it is the dominant resource in most classrooms. Years ago, Goodlad (1984) found that textbook reading assignments were one of the most common instructional approaches used…