Primary or Secondary Source? is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on telling a source made at the time from one written later, aligned to Common Core standard RI.5.6. It prints 3 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.
Set 12 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.
Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.
Primary or Secondary Source?
RI.5.6
NameDate
Sort each one into the right column.
1.Sort each one: Primary source or Secondary source?
Sort: a website summing up the mayor's career, a history book about floods in the region, an interview with a woman who watched the eclipse, a scientist's notebook from her experiment, a children's book retelling the scientist's discovery, a school attendance list from 1920
Primary sourceSecondary source
2.Sort each one: Primary source or Secondary source?
Sort: a photograph taken at the opening of the bridge, a sports historian's book about the club, a letter a soldier wrote home during the war, a documentary about the eclipse made fifty years afterward, a ticket from the first train to run on the line, a biography of the soldier written by his great-grandson
Primary sourceSecondary source
3.Sort each one: Primary source or Secondary source?
Sort: a museum guide explaining the 1908 fair, a diary kept by a sailor during the voyage, a poster printed to advertise the fair in 1908, a map drawn by an explorer on her journey, a modern atlas page showing the explorer's route, a class report about schools long ago
Primary sourceSecondary source
LessonPrint · RI.5.6 · Set 12 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Primary or Secondary Source?
Set 12. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. a children's book retelling the scientist's discovery — Secondary source 2. a history book about floods in the region — Secondary source 3. a school attendance list from 1920 — Primary source 4. a scientist's notebook from her experiment — Primary source 5. a website summing up the mayor's career — Secondary source 6. an interview with a woman who watched the eclipse — Primary source
2.1. a biography of the soldier written by his great-grandson — Secondary source 2. a documentary about the eclipse made fifty years afterward — Secondary source 3. a letter a soldier wrote home during the war — Primary source 4. a photograph taken at the opening of the bridge — Primary source 5. a sports historian's book about the club — Secondary source 6. a ticket from the first train to run on the line — Primary source
3.1. a class report about schools long ago — Secondary source 2. a diary kept by a sailor during the voyage — Primary source 3. a map drawn by an explorer on her journey — Primary source 4. a modern atlas page showing the explorer's route — Secondary source 5. a museum guide explaining the 1908 fair — Secondary source 6. a poster printed to advertise the fair in 1908 — Primary source
Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.5.6 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.