Our Gateway books are more closely aligned to Florida’s instructional standards than any other resources available. Each of our books is completely written from scratch to match those standards. All of our books follow a similar format based on the latest learning theory.

M/J Civics:

Gateway to American Civics and Government: Revised Edition

The revised edition of this book, based on Florida’s new Civics and Government Standards, covers all of the names and terms found in the new Benchmarks and Benchmark Clarifications.

This newest edition of Gateway also includes all of the content focus terms from the “Draft” Civics EOC Test Item Specifications, such as faithless elector, Berlin Airlift, and Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act.

Unlike other books, this one was written especially for Florida’s learning standards and to help your students with the EOC.  This book simply has the best descriptions and explanations of what students really need to know, found anywhere at any price. Schools that have used this book have consistently raised their EOC scores.

The book includes a pre-reading advance organizer for each chapter with relevant learning standards, a word wall, and a short preview of one to two pages, known as the Florida “Keys” to Learning.  The text itself is chunked into meaningful sections followed by student activities. Specially commissioned cartoons help student with difficult concepts like forms of government and constitutional principles. Each chapter ends with an after-reading section that includes a concept map, study cards and practice test questions.

Special pop-ups, highlighting, and new charts guide your students in preparing for the EOC. The review cards at the end of each chapter focus on important information frequently tested on the EOC. Each content focus term is listed in the “Content Focus Vocabulary” section on the first page of the chapter and bolded in red in the Florida “Keys” to Learning, the chapter text, and the chapter review cards. These terms are also defined in the Florida “Keys” to Learning, making it easier to frontload vocabulary for English language learners. 

The new Gateway to American Civics and Government: Revised Edition is available from the Florida School Book Depository as well as directly from us.  The price is only $199.50 for a set of ten softcover, full color books, plus 5% shipping. If your district can afford to buy these each year, students can treat the books as a consumable and make their own annotations. If your district decides to get the online program, students can highlight, make their own annotations, take the end-of-chapter tests, and complete assignments online. The online version also includes an audio file and a Spanish translation at no additional charge.

Exploring Primary Sources for Florida Social Studies: Middle School Grades

This new resource is available from our “sister” company, First Choice Educational Publishing. This incredible resource encourages student reading, writing and deep thinking about civics and early American history. It can be used as a supplement for courses in either M/J Civics or M/J United States History. Exploring Primary Sources for Florida Social Studies: Middle School Grades is especially designed for use as a consumable resource—each student can highlight and annotate his or her own copy of the book, becoming a more effective and engaged reader.

Exploring Primary Sources for Florida Social Studies: Middle School Grades has 18 chapters on those topics in civics that most lend themselves to reading primary sources. These include the influence of ancient civilizations on the “Founders,” historic English documents like Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights, the writings of Locke and Montesquieu, the dispute over taxation that led to the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, the principles of the U.S. Constitution, the system of federalism, the debate over ratification, the Bill of Rights and later amendments, key decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, a comparison of the U.S. and Florida Constitutions, and primary sources on U.S. intervention in international conflicts and participation in international organizations. 

Each chapter is designed with an identical structure and has one or more excerpts from primary sources. It begins with a box identifying the relevant Benchmarks, Benchmark Clarifications and Content Focus Terms for the chapter. Then it provides background Information for each excerpt, familiarizing students with the context. This is followed by a “Before Reading” instruction for thinking about particular ideas or discussing those ideas with a partner or in a small group. This prepares the ground for approaching the primary source. Then there is an assignment for “During Reading”: a literacy activity of some kind for students to complete while reading the excerpt, such as highlighting main ideas or coding text. Next comes a short excerpt from a primary source, accompanied by a “Word Helper.”  This is followed by several post-reading questions. At the end of each group of primary source excerpts, there is a summative student activity pulling information from all of the documents and tying them back to the Benchmarks, such as a graphic organizer or “RAFT” exercise.

Exploring Primary Sources is meant to supplement, not replace, Gateway to American Civics and Government.  It will especially help your students grapple with the type of primary source excerpts found on many of the questions with primary sources on the Civics EOC. The two resources work especially well when used in tandem.

M/J U.S. History:

Gateway to Early American History with Revised Civics and Government Standards

Gateway to Early American History is a middle-school text that can be used for any year in middle school. A special sixth grade edition is available for schools and districts that have swapped their Grade 6 and Grade 8 social studies courses.  This book highlights learning objectives that are common to both early U.S. history and Grade 7 Civics and Government. Students who use this book in Grade 6 will come to Grade 7 fully prepared for many of the topics on the Civics EOC, such as English historic documents, the causes of the American Revolution, the arguments of the Declaration of Independence, the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, the organization of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, constitutional principles, and the U.S. Supreme Court decisions of Marbury v. Madison and Dred Scott v. Sandford.

9-12 U.S. History:

Gateway to U.S. History with Florida’s Revised Civics and Government Standards

Gateway to U.S. History with Florida’s Revised Civics and Government Standards provides the best resource for your high school U.S. history course and the very best preparation for Florida’s EOC in U.S. History.

Your school or district may have already chosen this book as its adopted text for high school American history for the next five years. Gateway to U.S. History is closely aligned to all of Florida’s tested standards for U.S. history and contains more than 300 practice questions, including a complete practice test.

Even if your district has adopted a different American history textbook, your students will still greatly benefit from using this book or online program as a supplement. After they have studied each chapter in their adopted textbook, they can read the companion chapter in Gateway to U.S. History and answer the practice multiple-choice questions at the end of the chapter. They can further use the special features of Gateway to U.S. History, such as its advance organizers, concept maps and review cards, especially for remediation and for a comprehensive final review in the weeks before the test.

You will find that all of our Gateway books provide Florida students with the bridge to success on Florida’s social studies EOC tests!

Exploring Primary Sources for U.S. History: Florida High School Grades

This new resource is available from our “sister” company, First Choice Educational Publishing. This incredible new resource encourages student reading, writing and deep thinking about United States history. It can be used as a supplement for courses in high school United States History. Exploring Primary Sources for U.S. History is specially designed to be used as a consumable resource—each student can highlight and annotate his or her own copy of the book, becoming a more effective and engaged reader.

Exploring Primary Sources for U.S. History  has 14 chapters on many of those topics that students find especially challenging. These include Reconstruction, the problems of late nineteenth-century farmers, the role of inventors in America’s Second Industrial Revolution, the early American labor movement, the Progressives, the Spanish-American War and American imperialism, the United States in World War I and World War II, the Cold War, and the organizations that shaped the Civil Rights Movement. 

Each chapter is designed with an identical structure with several excerpts from primary sources. It begins with a box identifying the relevant Benchmarks and Content Focus Terms for the chapter. Then it provides background Information for each excerpt, familiarizing students with the context. Then students read a short excerpt from a primary source, accompanied by a “Word Helper.”  Many of these excerpts are similar to many of those found on Florida’s EOC Assessment in United States History This is followed by post-reading questions. At the end of each group of primary source excerpts, there is a summative student activity pulling information from all of the documents together and tying them back to the Benchmarks, such as a graphic organizer or “RAFT” exercise.

Exploring Primary Sources is meant to supplement, not replace, Gateway to U.S. History  It will especially help your students grapple with the type of primary source excerpts found on many of the questions on the EOC. The two resources work especially well when used in tandem.