The guide is designed as an activity supplement for social studies teachers interested in helping students in grades 6-12 improve their ability to critically read social studies materials with a global focus. In addition, teachers are provided with basic tools to use in assessing the readability of social studies materials. The activities are based upon specific reading and thinking skills, concepts, content, and issues of importance in the social studies. The nine chapters deal with critical thinking and reading abilities such as formulating questions, identifying problems, gathering and categorizing information, making judgments, understanding different perspectives, recognizing bias, and analyzing propaganda. Chapter one defines basic reading skills necessary for understanding social studies materials. Chapter two presents activity models for reading social studies concepts. Chapters three, four, and five are concerned with word meanings, social studies vocabulary, and functional literacy. Chapter six presents activities to improve students' ability to read maps. Chapter seven provides teachers with systems for checking the readability of social studies materials. The concluding chapters focus on skills for reading newspapers and for analyzing and evaluating propaganda. Each chapter contains a general introduction followed by teaching activities for which objectives, grade level, time, materials, and procedure are specified. (Author/DB)