What a good question. The phrase 'best teaching practice' is an excellent one but tape recording your voice reading the chapter is actually an unknown practice to me -not a best teaching practice.

I can understand though why a teacher might think this helpful. The problem really lies in the textbook though - social studies textbooks simply don't work well for young children yet districts persist in spending money on them and including them in the curriculum. The language of social studies textbooks particuarly tends to be dry and stilted - nothing that young children can really comprehend whether they read it or if it's read to them.

This teacher has figured out that her students don't get much by reading the chapters themselves - it shows she's watching and she cares. But the nothing but worksheets also shows that social studies might not be this teacher's favorite topic.

Or is that how she teaches every subject- nothing but worksheets?

Teachers have choices about worksheets and their use but they usually have No Choice about whether to use the textbook or not - it takes an older wiser teacher to know how to get round using the textbook and not get in trouble with the Director of Curriculum. And when you don't use the textbook some parents will say "Where's the textbook? How can you learn without a textbook?"

But yes, it's a particular shame because social studies is such a rich topic - it's the great drama of the human experience - but your child will have other teachers who can make up the distance in social studies.

How are things otherwise? I switched from elementary to middle school precisely because I didn't like teaching 4 - 5 different subjects. I like social studies but don't like much teaching math. If this teacher teaches the other subjects well and your child and the other children are basically happy in this class, a bad social studies lesson even every day can be tolerated for all the other good things that are happening there.