This study investigated the effects of teachers’ implementation of the four Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) principles (i.e., reading motivation, reading strategy use, conceptual knowledge, and collaborative learning) in the content area of social studies on the reading motivation, reading strategy use, and reading comprehension of fifth-grade students. A quasi experimental method was adopted, and two classes of 57 fifth-grade elementary school students in Tainan city, Taiwan were used as samples. The experimental group participated in CORI, whereas the control group were instructed using a didactic teaching method. The experimental instruction intervention lasted for 14 hours. The Reading Motivation Inventory, Comprehension Strategy Use Measure, and a reading comprehension test were used as instruments for collecting data. A t test and ANCOVA were performed to analyze the data. The results indicate that CORI: (1) increases the reading motivation of students, (2) improves the reading comprehension strategy use of fifth-grade students, and (3) increases their reading comprehension. This paper provides suggestions to teachers and future researchers based on these findings.