A study was conducted to examine and describe the knowledge and beliefs of elementary school teachers and students regarding the acquisition of reading comprehension skills during reading instruction and the application of those skills during social studies instruction. One teacher and 26 fourth and fifth grade students were observed daily over a four-month period. The focus of the observations was on the reading group discussion sessions that the teacher conducted with each of nine reading groups in the classroom. Interviews were also conducted with the teacher and with individual students. The results indicated that the teacher had developed a teaching perspective that revolved around the use of discussion of story content to teach the comprehension skills that he deemed important for lifelong reading. He had organized his social studies instruction around the practice and application of those skills. He used several plans for grouping students for instruction, and had developed his own materials for teaching comprehension. The children's ideas concerning reading and reading instruction included the following: (1) reading is comprehension, (2) reading is reading aloud, (3) workbook exercises do not help in understanding a story or in developing reading skills, (4) children who read aloud with the teacher have difficulty with reading, and (5) reading skills learned in elementary school will help in high school. (Excerpts from teacher/student discussions are appended.) (FL)