South Carolina Studies Weekly was authored and is dynamically maintained by native South Carolinian Susan Balsinger. Susan has been an educator for 12 years; has taught South Carolina third grade for 5 years; is Nation Board Certified; and is currently a reading specialist. South Carolina Studies Weekly is now used in 56 percent of South Carolina’s third grade classrooms.

The third grade publication comes in 24 colorful newspapers that look and feel like real newspapers. These are shipped in four shipments, or quarters, each containing 6 weekly curriculum newspapers.

This third grade classroom newspaper is based on the South Carolina state standards for third grade social studies.

Each third grade weekly newspaper contains a social studies lesson on South Carolina state history, geography, culture, or economics; a current event that relates to the lesson being presented; a regions article; a biographical spotlight of a prominent South Carolina citizen; a South Carolina wildlife article; arts and crafts; crossword puzzle; a comic strip of South Carolina Kids, and more.

A teacher supplement is included with each subscription for ten or more copies. The teacher supplement for each weekly newspaper contains discussion questions, answers to crossword puzzles and other activities; a weekly assessment, state standards documentation; and more.

This is an ideal tool to help students prepare with non-fiction reading and comprehension for South Carolina state social studies and reading tests. Schools utilizing South Carolina Studies Weekly demonstrate stronger scores than the state third grade social studies average of schools not using South Carolina Studies Weekly. In 2005, there were 79.4 percent of third grade students in the state meeting the standard; 76.4 percent of students not using South Carolina Studies Weekly met the standard; and 83.1 percent of students using South Carolina Studies Weekly met the standard. The difference between those using the publication and those not using is 6.7 points. The difference in the third grade reading index was 17.87!

South Carolina Studies Weekly is also ideal for homeschool social studies.

Common Core

K-5 Required to Read 50% Informational Text - Meet or exceed the 50% Informational Text requirement in your state with Studies Weekly. Teach CCSS-aligned Social Studies and Science content during your literacy block!

Staircase of Complexity - Lexile levels gradually increase over the course of each grade level. We provide researched-based lesson plans with scaffolding/differentiated instruction so that all students succeed.

Text-Based Answers - Students are required to write about what they read, perform additional research, cite sources and consider other points of view. Assessment questions require students to recall, examine and analyze the text they have read.

Writing from Sources - Students will develop research and media skills using primary and secondary sources. We provide 2.0 digital tool suggestions for creating online products like videos, avatars, posters and slide shows.

Academic Vocabulary - With domain-specific vocabulary for each lesson, our lesson plans help you teach students how to determine the meaning of unknown words within a text (CCSS for ELA RI.4).

Computer-Based, Machine-Scored Assessment for Grades 3-5 - Online assessment is provided at eStudiesweekly.com. With instant analysis, including pie charts for every question, you.ll identify where re-teaching or additional test-taking strategies are needed.

Visit the Studies Weekly Blog to learn more about integrating Common Core Standards into your classroom.

Customers Near You

This Google Map shows the nearest classrooms in your area that are already using Studies Weekly publications for core instruction.