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 19 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 letter a soldier wrote home during the war, a magazine article about the history of the railway, a ticket from the first train to run on the line, a diary kept by a sailor during the voyage, a class report about schools long ago, a children's book retelling the scientist's discovery
Primary sourceSecondary source
2.Sort each one: Primary source or Secondary source?
Sort: a history book about floods in the region, the speech the mayor gave at the opening, a newspaper report written on the day of the flood, a website summing up the mayor's career, a map drawn by an explorer on her journey, an online reference article about the bridge
Primary sourceSecondary source
3.Sort each one: Primary source or Secondary source?
Sort: a photograph taken at the opening of the bridge, a modern atlas page showing the explorer's route, a documentary about the eclipse made fifty years afterward, a poster printed to advertise the fair in 1908, a textbook chapter about the voyage, written a century later, a scientist's notebook from her experiment
Primary sourceSecondary source
LessonPrint · RI.5.6 · Set 19 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Primary or Secondary Source?
Set 19. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. a children's book retelling the scientist's discovery — Secondary source 2. a class report about schools long ago — Secondary source 3. a diary kept by a sailor during the voyage — Primary source 4. a letter a soldier wrote home during the war — Primary source 5. a magazine article about the history of the railway — Secondary source 6. a ticket from the first train to run on the line — Primary source
2.1. a history book about floods in the region — Secondary source 2. a map drawn by an explorer on her journey — Primary source 3. a newspaper report written on the day of the flood — Primary source 4. a website summing up the mayor's career — Secondary source 5. an online reference article about the bridge — Secondary source 6. the speech the mayor gave at the opening — Primary source
3.1. a documentary about the eclipse made fifty years afterward — Secondary source 2. a modern atlas page showing the explorer's route — Secondary source 3. a photograph taken at the opening of the bridge — Primary source 4. a poster printed to advertise the fair in 1908 — Primary source 5. a scientist's notebook from her experiment — Primary source 6. a textbook chapter about the voyage, written a century later — Secondary source
Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.5.6 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.