How Let's Find Out & Scholastic News Became the Proven and Trusted Social Studies Curriculum

Let's Find Out® (Kindergarten), Scholastic News® (Grades 1–5)

New York State Social Studies Standards

• Fills the Social Studies Gap: Scholastic Magazines+ serves as the core social studies curriculum across six elementary schools, providing coherent K–5 content when districts lack a comprehensive program. The purchase comes from the social studies budget—positioned as curriculum, not enrichment.

• Bridges the Fiction-Nonfiction Divide: While phonics programs develop decoding skills through fiction texts, Scholastic Magazines+ offers the nonfiction exposure students need introducing informational text features (captions, headings, photographs, glossaries) in developmentally appropriate ways.

•  No-Prep, High-Quality Instruction: Complete lesson plans, videos, and activities that arrive ready to use. Teachers trust the quality regardless of topic—content is vetted, standards-aligned, and age-appropriate.

In upstate New York, just north of the Pennsylvania border, the Corning-Painted Post Area School District educates 4,350 PreK–12 students. In a district where nearly half of the students are economically disadvantaged, every resource must prove its worth. Quality matters. Consistency matters. And when something works, the district retains it.

For over a decade, Let's Find Out and Scholastic News have been the main social studies curriculum in every K–5 classroom—they are an integral part of instruction.

Principal Sara Wilson of Erwin Valley Elementary said that longevity speaks for itself. "Teachers have familiarity with the product, and they trust it," she explained. "It's always at the top of their list in the summer to make sure we've included them in the order. Teachers rely on them year after year."

That consistency makes Scholastic more than just a trusted resource. "It's a rooted resource," Wilson said. It's the thread connecting teachers across six elementary schools and aligning instruction from grade to grade.

Inside those classrooms, teachers view Scholastic Magazines+ as a current, relevant source of social studies topics that keeps learning consistent and engaging week after week.

The district has a program with strong phonics instruction but limited nonfiction content. "In primary grades, when we're learning to read, it's much easier if you're using fiction stories," teacher Bradley McKinney explained. "Most early-grade materials are fiction-based to support phonics instruction, so the district has struggled to provide enough informational texts for young readers. The magazines help fill that gap by providing steady, age-appropriate nonfiction content."

The magazines introduce informational text features—such as photographs instead of illustrations, captions, headings, and glossaries—in developmentally appropriate ways. Students learn that reading isn't just about stories; it also involves information. For the district, these features are important for building comprehension skills. Nonfiction texts expose students to text structures like description, sequence, compare/contrast, cause/effect, and problem/solution—structures they need to recognize while reading and use in their own writing.

For McKinney, these features matter because they help students prepare for the informational reading they'll encounter in higher grades. "They're learning that text can be organized in different ways—some stories compare things, some explain causes, some solve problems," he notes. "Scholastic introduces those structures early."

For many students, this is their first experience with a magazine. "Not many students have magazines coming to their house anymore," Wilson observes. That makes Scholastic both a content resource and a media literacy tool—students learn what magazines are, how they are structured, and why they look different from books.

By combining social studies, reading, and writing into one resource, teachers have turned a long-standing challenge into a consistent opportunity for learning.

For Corning teachers, Scholastic Magazines+ do more than just provide a weekly social studies lesson—they foster learning throughout the day. Each issue combines reading, writing, science, and math skills with age-appropriate social studies themes, offering topics that align with the curriculum, teaching key vocabulary, and promoting discussion across various content areas.

At Frederick Carder Elementary, kindergarten teacher Melanie Crisco sees that integration every week. "It's a mix of ELA, math, numbers, and science—you name it," she said. "One little magazine can spark so much curiosity. We read about bats, and suddenly the kids wanted every nonfiction book on owls and nocturnal animals they could find."

That knowledge sticks. "They'll bring things up months later," Crisco said. "When we talk about pumpkins in the spring, they remember what we learned about the leaves, stems, and roots." For teachers, those moments show that students aren't just reading—they're retaining, connecting, and understanding how what they read relates to the world around them.

Scholastic Magazines+ also address specific instructional gaps teachers notice in their core programs. In kindergarten, McKinney discovered his math curriculum didn't include graphing. "Our curriculum does not do graphing at all," he said. "So, the only time students saw a graph was in a Scholastic magazine."

Let's Find Out frequently uses graphs, such as bar graphs showing favorite foods and line graphs tracking weather patterns. "At least once a month, sometimes more, they were doing a graphing activity," McKinney explained. Over the year, students learned to read graphs, interpret data, and understand how information can be visualized. "I definitely saw that they learned what a graph was, how to read a graph, and how to use a graph through Let's Find Out."

It's a small example, but it highlights a bigger point: Scholastic fills curricular gaps without requiring teachers to create lessons from scratch. The instruction is integrated, consistent, and aligned with what early learners need.

In classrooms across Corning, Fridays have a unique rhythm. The day wraps up not with review sheets or test prep, but with Scholastic Magazines+—a weekly tradition students anticipate from the moment they arrive.

"They see the magazines on their desks and get so excited," said Crisco. "It's part of our rhythm now." Each week's issue anchors a class discussion, an activity, and often a hands-on extension—whether that's labeling a fire truck during Fire Safety Week or comparing nocturnal animals after reading about bats.

In kindergarten, McKinney's students enjoy the "dance breaks"—short movement activities related to the theme. "If the topic is jellyfish, they're swimming like jellyfish," he explains. The activities boost vocabulary through movement, blending physical activity with learning. It's engaging without feeling like traditional instruction.

For teachers, the Friday routine reinforces both literacy and life skills. Students guess what the issue might be about, listen attentively as it's read aloud, and revisit it later through engaging games. "It's the perfect way to end the week," Crisco added. "They're learning, but it doesn't feel like work." 

The Friday routine is effective because it meets students where they are—and in a district with 20% of students having disabilities, that flexibility is essential.

"It's not just one way of learning," Crisco notes. Students can listen to the magazine being read aloud, watch videos, play digital games, or take part in hands-on activities. The platform reads text aloud and highlights words as it goes—helpful for emerging readers who need that support. Some students work independently, while others learn best in small groups. The structure supports both methods.

At Erwin Valley Elementary, self-contained special education classrooms strategically incorporate visual features. Teachers help nonverbal students navigate each magazine issue using color-coded boxes in the layout. "I would name the color of the box, and all the students would put a finger on it to follow along with the rest of the class," explains Angela Nichiporuk, who spent three years teaching in a special education classroom before moving to kindergarten at Severn Elementary. "That really helped our students who had a hard time following along. The color-coding was excellent, especially for our students with learning disabilities."

Even for students who haven't yet learned to decode text, Scholastic Magazines+ offer entry points for learning. "The pictures still allow for rich discussion," Wilson notes. Visual literacy is equally important as print literacy in early grades—and Scholastic's design supports both.

The district's one-to-one Chromebook program further increases access. Students use digital games during independent work, revisit past magazine issues, and explore topics that interest them. "They can have them on their Chromebooks, and they can hear it being read to them," McKinney says. "It tracks the print. It highlights the words as it's reading."

For Melanie Crisco, who gradually integrates digital components throughout the year, the key is maintaining balance. "It's educational, not just screen time," she emphasizes. Students find the technology engaging because it connects to content they already care about. They aren't just clicking through games—they're reinforcing concepts from the magazine they read together.

Flexibility is crucial in classrooms with widely varied reading levels that span years instead of months. While some students need read-aloud support, others are ready to read independently, and some benefit from visual or kinesthetic activities. Providing multiple ways to access the same content ensures that everyone can participate. "Scholastic already does a lot of that work for you," McKinney notes. "It provides a lot of differentiation. The platform itself definitely is made for differentiation."

Over the years, Corning's teachers have seen new programs come and go—but Scholastic Magazines+ have remained. Despite changes in curriculum, new adoptions, and evolving standards, the magazines remain a reliable resource that teachers can count on. 

In 21 years, McKinney has seen the district adopt new literacy programs and shift to Science of Reading approaches. "The pendulum has swung many times," he notes. "We've changed curriculum many times, but we've kept Scholastic through all of those changes.”

That staying power comes from more than just quality content—it also comes from partnership. Years ago, when there was talk of discontinuing the poster-sized, Big Issue versions of Let's Find Out, McKinney advocated for keeping it. The format enabled the shared reading experience kindergartners need. Scholastic listened. The Big Issues remain in classrooms today.

McKinney values both the weekly content and the depth of the archives behind each issue. The searchable library gives him relevant materials whenever he needs them. "In kindergarten, I used the archives to introduce many topics," he explains. "I knew what was in there because I used it for so long. It's a wonderful resource to have at your fingertips." That collection—built over more than a decade—means teachers don't have to create content from scratch.

The combination matters. High-quality content that adjusts to teacher feedback and is supported by extensive archives builds reliability. "Teachers have familiarity with the materials, and they trust them," Wilson says. "They know they'll align with standards and be ready to use right away."

When every classroom uses the same trusted resource, it ensures consistency across grades and guarantees that all students access the same high-quality content. For Corning, that reliability allows teachers to focus on what matters most—building connections with students.

For administrators thinking about their own social studies curriculum, Corning provides a model: when a resource consistently proves successful year after year across different grade levels and curriculum updates, it becomes more than just an addition. It becomes part of the infrastructure.

"It's how we teach our students about the world," said McKinney.

Wilson looks at it from a leadership perspective. "It's a deeply ingrained resource—it's part of our DNA now," she said. "Whatever the topic may be, Scholastic will meet teachers where they are— and meet students where they are, too."

That's the kind of trust districts build—not in a single school year, but over a decade of consistent, high-quality instruction that teachers revisit, and students remember.