Teaching and Learning Elementary Social Studies

With a wealth of lesson plans and practical guidance, this perennial best-seller provides instructional strategies for involving children in social studies content that emphasize concepts, inquiry, and moral development.

If you think you know Ellis, think again!  Widely admired for its warm voice and abundance of children’s art and writing, Teaching and Learning Elementary Social Studies integrates constructivist philosophies of active learning with the essential knowledge, basic skills, and positive values required of citizens in a healthy and diverse democracy. And every copy is packaged with a free Atlas!

A Message from the Author

Maintaining the balance between theory and practice is never easy, but I am convinced that this new edition presents each to its best advantage. The pages of the text explain, illustrate, and encourage developmentally appropriate practice; engaged, exploratory learning; and reflective thought and action. A host of practical lessons are found throughout the book, ready for you to use directly or to adapt to your circumstances as needed. A central purpose of the book is to address and nurture the strategies and tactics necessary to achieving the social studies goals of

• Participatory citizenship. From Aristotle’s time to the twenty-first century, the idea of the participating citizen has been a dream and an ideal. Citizenship is not an abstract concept. It is the life to which each of us is called.
• Knowledge of our world. Knowledge of our world equips us with what Abraham Lincoln called “the mystic chords of memory.” Our knowledge of history, geography, and civics are foundations of the good life. Knowledge of our world serves as a tool for problem solving as well as an end in itself.
• Self-realization and regulation. Every child represents a promise. Our task is to be true to the promise. The unique qualities of each individual begin to show their promise in environments where freedom and discipline are brought into harmony.
• Social and moral growth. Classrooms and schools are social settings, filled with potential for moral growth. To the extent that your own classroom is truly social, it has the potential to be truly moral.

–Art Ellis

More than in any previous edition, Art Ellis prepares you for the realities of teaching social studies today!

• Almost forty In the Classroom boxes illustrate what authentic, effective social studies teaching and learning look like in today’s classrooms.
• Fifteen new sample lesson plans provide tools that you can take with you into your first classroom.
• A new chapter on diversity (Chapter 2) prepares you for the realities of twenty-first century schools and classrooms.
• Current Events boxes link social studies content to today’s events, and help you get into the habit of exploring newspapers and the Web for information you can bring into the classroom.
• Keys to... boxes underline important concepts and provide guidelines for adapting theory into your classroom practice.