What Is A Firsthand Account

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.four.vi: Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; draw the differences in focus and the data provided.

I'yard non going to lie. This was a scary standard for me to tackle. It's ane of those that you Google, and well-nigh goose egg comes up. Sure, pulling out nonfiction resources is fairly unproblematic if yous have a corking library, but not much exists to explicitly teach this skill. And this is a skill that needs explicit educational activity! The Mutual Core not only asks u.s.a. to teach point of view, but they definitely desire us to accept information technology a step or two farther… and this skill is definitely taking it further!

Teach students to analyze firsthand and secondhand accounts with this anchor chart, interactive notebook template, and task cards.

Here's how I teach students to thoughtfully clarify firsthand and secondhand accounts.

Start With Passages

We commencement with high-interest passages. My students Honey learning virtually European Explorers, then I pulled some master sources from my English language major days. Here are the excerpts I use to innovate immediate accounts. They aren't fancy, and they absolutely require discussion and some explanation on your part, but they ever hook my students. Y'all can download these complimentary Firsthand Accounts of European Explorers Here.

free European explorers reading passages upper elementary

I read these aloud to students while they silently read forth. Nosotros talk about the information we can become from these accounts, and how an encyclopedia might give us unlike data. We too discuss how the extra information I included on the sheets (to aid give them groundwork data) changes or alters their view of the firsthand account. I explain that the extra information I give is technically a secondhand account, or a secondhand source. They about immediately understand the difference.

Firsthand and Secondhand Account Anchor Nautical chart and Foldable

Hither'due south a look at the anchor chart I create with students and reference throughout our study.

What would a lesson be without something in their interactive notebooks!? Afterward creating the anchor nautical chart above, they put that same information into their notebooks. Yous can download my complimentary firsthand and secondhand account template HERE.

Firsthand and Secondhand Accounts Chore Cards

I LOVE using task cards in interactive notebooks. It's a great way to provide proof of learning. I created these Analyzing Firsthand and Secondhand Business relationship Chore Cards, and I am and then excited about them! Each of the 16 cards has two different accounts of the aforementioned upshot. One is a firsthand account and one is a secondhand account. I accept likewise included guiding questions to help students firmly grasp the goals of the standard. The questions help students compare and dissimilarity the two accounts, sympathize how the focus is different depending on the source, and discern the differences in the information provided.

Complete several of the cards together, beginning. Annotate the cards as you would a close reading resource (Did yous know that almost ALL of my half-page reading chore cards are perfect for shut reading?) and dissect them well.

task cards to analyze firsthand and secondhand accounts in upper elementary

The students can so glue one of the job cards into their notebook and answer the guiding questions using the private educatee question prompt sheet. The resource besides includes a recording sheet if you don't apply interactive notebooks. After we have completed the job cards together and in the notebook, they are perfect for small groups and to put in your literacy centers, too!