Students sort historical evidence into primary sources (from people who were there) and secondary sources (made later by others) — learning to tell where our knowledge of the past comes from.
Students will be able to…
How do we know what happened long ago? By studying clues — but some clues come straight from the people who were there, and others were made much later. How can you tell them apart?
Project this and sort each source into “Primary” or “Secondary.” Tap one, then tap the bucket — and talk about who made it and when.
Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.
Nobody alive saw 1776 — so how do we know about it?
Students investigate by sorting.
Students analyze.
Students conclude.
Students use a source.
Aligned to the C3 Framework for Social Studies and Common Core literacy in social studies.
Summarize how different kinds of historical sources are used to explain events in the past.
Compare information provided by different historical sources about the past.
Generate questions about multiple historical sources and their relationships.
Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic.
Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.
Have students create primary sources about their own life today (a letter, a drawing, a list) to put in a class time capsule for future “historians.” A printable time-capsule sheet is in the Social Studies library.
Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.
A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.
A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.