In the aftermath of such tragedies as September 11 and natural disasters like the tsunami in Southeast Asia and during contentious election years, social studies becomes more prominent in the curriculum. As such, teachers, not just parents or churches or the government, have the responsibility to help students make sense of the information to which they are so readily exposed. However, elementary teachers report being overwhelmed by pressures to have their students achieve on standardized assessments and complain that there is not enough time in the day to teach reading and math, the areas for which they are held most accountable, and also teach social studies. The solution to this dilemma may lie with the effective integration of social studies into content areas like reading and math and meeting the state-mandated standards in each area. By using the rich fund of knowledge about effective integration to guide their preparation, teachers can present elementary-level integrated social studies lessons that are engaging and powerful and meet state and federal mandates without taking classroom time away from other subject areas.