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 18 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 ticket from the first train to run on the line, a magazine article about the history of the railway, a photograph taken at the opening of the bridge, a history book about floods in the region, an online reference article about the bridge, a newspaper report written on the day of the flood
Primary sourceSecondary source
2.Sort each one: Primary source or Secondary source?
Sort: a modern atlas page showing the explorer's route, a poster printed to advertise the fair in 1908, a school attendance list from 1920, a website summing up the mayor's career, a museum guide explaining the 1908 fair, the speech the mayor gave at the opening
Primary sourceSecondary source
3.Sort each one: Primary source or Secondary source?
Sort: a textbook chapter about the voyage, written a century later, a letter a soldier wrote home during the war, a class report about schools long ago, a documentary about the eclipse made fifty years afterward, an interview with a woman who watched the eclipse, a scientist's notebook from her experiment
Primary sourceSecondary source
LessonPrint · RI.5.6 · Set 18 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Primary or Secondary Source?
Set 18. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. a history book about floods in the region — Secondary source 2. a magazine article about the history of the railway — Secondary source 3. a newspaper report written on the day of the flood — Primary source 4. a photograph taken at the opening of the bridge — Primary source 5. a ticket from the first train to run on the line — Primary source 6. an online reference article about the bridge — Secondary source
2.1. a modern atlas page showing the explorer's route — Secondary source 2. a museum guide explaining the 1908 fair — Secondary source 3. a poster printed to advertise the fair in 1908 — Primary source 4. a school attendance list from 1920 — Primary source 5. a website summing up the mayor's career — Secondary source 6. the speech the mayor gave at the opening — Primary source
3.1. a class report about schools long ago — 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 scientist's notebook from her experiment — Primary source 5. a textbook chapter about the voyage, written a century later — Secondary source 6. an interview with a woman who watched the eclipse — Primary source
Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.5.6 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.