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 21 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 sports historian's book about the club, the speech the mayor gave at the opening, an interview with a woman who watched the eclipse, a class report about schools long ago, a modern atlas page showing the explorer's route, a map drawn by an explorer on her journey
Primary sourceSecondary source
2.Sort each one: Primary source or Secondary source?
Sort: a history book about floods in the region, a documentary about the eclipse made fifty years afterward, a diary kept by a sailor during the voyage, a letter a soldier wrote home during the war, a school attendance list from 1920, a textbook chapter about the voyage, written a century later
Primary sourceSecondary source
3.Sort each one: Primary source or Secondary source?
Sort: a website summing up the mayor's career, a magazine article about the history of the railway, a photograph taken at the opening of the bridge, a ticket from the first train to run on the line, an online reference article about the bridge, a poster printed to advertise the fair in 1908
Primary sourceSecondary source
LessonPrint · RI.5.6 · Set 21 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Primary or Secondary Source?
Set 21. Prints on its own sheet.
1.1. a class report about schools long ago — Secondary source 2. a map drawn by an explorer on her journey — Primary source 3. a modern atlas page showing the explorer's route — Secondary source 4. a sports historian's book about the club — Secondary source 5. an interview with a woman who watched the eclipse — Primary source 6. the speech the mayor gave at the opening — Primary source
2.1. a diary kept by a sailor during the voyage — Primary source 2. a documentary about the eclipse made fifty years afterward — Secondary source 3. a history book about floods in the region — Secondary source 4. a letter a soldier wrote home during the war — Primary source 5. a school attendance list from 1920 — Primary source 6. a textbook chapter about the voyage, written a century later — Secondary source
3.1. a magazine article about the history of the railway — Secondary source 2. a photograph taken at the opening of the bridge — Primary source 3. a poster printed to advertise the fair in 1908 — Primary source 4. a ticket from the first train to run on the line — Primary source 5. a website summing up the mayor's career — Secondary source 6. an online reference article about the bridge — Secondary source
Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.5.6 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.