Primary vs Secondary Sources

About this resource

Was the person who made it there when it happened? That one question sorts a diary from a textbook, a photo from an encyclopedia page, and a letter from a museum sign. This is a complete kit for telling primary sources from secondary sources, built for the table where children need different amounts of support. It starts with an anchor chart and a two-question page, then children circle, decide who made it and when, find the one that does not belong, fill in the blank, choose the true sentence, write a question of their own and cut and paste onto sort mats. Every item is a short printed phrase that says who made it and when, so a child reads or hears it and decides; there is no clip art, and no item is a copy, a photo of a photo or a retelling. It comes with a tracker, a class grid and a family update, so nothing has to be written from scratch.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (29 pages)

• 14 student pages in 9 page types: Anchor Chart, Two Questions, Circle It, Who Made It and When, Which One Does Not Belong?, Fill In the Blank, Circle the True Sentence, Write Your Own Question, and Cut and Paste
• 61 scored items on 11 pages, every answer read from the item lists, never typed by hand
• 20 different items to sort (10 primary, 10 secondary), such as a diary a girl wrote on her trip, a letter a sailor wrote home from his ship, an encyclopedia page about parades and a museum sign about an old ship
• 26 cut-and-paste pieces on 3 sort mats (8 items, then 10 items, then 8 clue sentences), each into two labeled boxes
• 2 answer keys, generated from the same data as the student pages
• 1 tracker (page, page type, items right, date) and 1 whole-class progress grid
• 1 team note (a hand-off page between team meetings) and 1 home page
• 1 filled example (an invented student), 1 phrase bank (16 observable-language starters), 1 binder cover and 6 divider tabs with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here and a how-to-read-a-page page

The Page Types, Easiest First

1. Anchor Chart (starting): the two kinds, each with a short meaning and four examples, then the child writes a source of their own for each kind.

2. Two Questions (starting): "Was the maker there?" and "Made at the time, or later?" One item is worked through, one is for the child to try.

3. Circle It, 2 pages (1 dot): circle every primary source, or every secondary source, in a row of six items, then write how many.

4. Who Made It and When, 1 page (2 dots): five items. Circle yes or no, circle at the time or later, then write primary or secondary.

5. Which One Does Not Belong?, 2 pages (2 or 3 dots): four items, one is from the other kind. Set A circles it and writes its number; Set B also writes what the other three are.

6. Fill In the Blank, 2 pages (2 or 3 dots): Set A gives an item and the child writes primary or secondary; Set B is five sentences with a blank and a box of eight words (three are not used).

7. Circle the True Sentence, 1 page (3 dots): three sentences about one item; exactly one is true.

8. Write Your Own Question, 1 page (3 dots): pick one of three items, say which kind it is, write a question on primary handwriting lines and write where to look. Not scored.

9. Cut and Paste, 3 pages (1, 2 or 3 dots): a big two-box sort mat and a strip of pieces that touch edge to edge, so cutting is a few straight lines. Paste 1 sorts 8 items; Paste 2 sorts 10 items (the primary box is sized for six pieces); Paste 3 sorts 8 clue sentences.

Words Only, No Clip Art

There are no pictures to name. Each item says who made it and when ("a sailor wrote home from his ship", "made today about long-ago pirates"), so a child never needs outside knowledge to decide. No item is in both groups, so every item has one right answer, and the wrong choices never use the words primary, secondary or source.

Built For The Child Holding The Page

A big "My name" line, one short instruction, large rounded type, big answer boxes, and dots (not words or colors) to show which level a page is. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult. The file prints clean in black and white.

No Guessing The Answer

Wherever a child picks among printed spots (which items in a row match, which item is the odd one, which side holds the right yes or no, where a word sits in the box of eight, which lettered sentence is true, the order of the pieces on the cut strip), the position of the right answer is checked so it does not sit in the same spot three times in a row.

Type In, Or Print

The name line and every answer box are type-in fields in any PDF reader: click one, type, then save. The same goes for the tracker, the class grid, the team note and the home page. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

Second and third grade classrooms, and K-2 teachers who want an early introduction to where information comes from, in self-contained and resource rooms, centers, small groups or morning work folders.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A primary and secondary sources worksheet set with the record-keeping around it. It is not a timed test, a screener, a clinical tool, or a claim about any student's age or rate of progress. There is no IEP goal language or eligibility wording anywhere in the file.