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 22 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 map drawn by an explorer on her journey, a magazine article about the history of the railway, a ticket from the first train to run on the line, a scientist's notebook from her experiment, a children's book retelling the scientist's discovery, a history book about floods in the region
Primary sourceSecondary source
2.Sort each one: Primary source or Secondary source?
Sort: a school attendance list from 1920, a museum guide explaining the 1908 fair, a recording of the crowd at the final match, a modern atlas page showing the explorer's route, a newspaper report written on the day of the flood, a sports historian's book about the club
Primary sourceSecondary source
3.Sort each one: Primary source or Secondary source?
Sort: the speech the mayor gave at the opening, a letter a soldier wrote home during the war, an online reference article about the bridge, a website summing up the mayor's career, an interview with a woman who watched the eclipse, a documentary about the eclipse made fifty years afterward
Primary sourceSecondary source
LessonPrint · RI.5.6 · Set 22 · free to copy for classroom use
Answer key — Primary or Secondary Source?
Set 22. 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 magazine article about the history of the railway — Secondary source 4. a map drawn by an explorer on her journey — Primary source 5. a scientist's notebook from her experiment — Primary source 6. a ticket from the first train to run on the line — Primary 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 newspaper report written on the day of the flood — Primary source 4. a recording of the crowd at the final match — Primary source 5. a school attendance list from 1920 — Primary source 6. a sports historian's book about the club — Secondary source
3.1. a documentary about the eclipse made fifty years afterward — Secondary source 2. a letter a soldier wrote home during the war — Primary source 3. a website summing up the mayor's career — Secondary source 4. an interview with a woman who watched the eclipse — Primary source 5. an online reference article about the bridge — Secondary source 6. the speech the mayor gave at the opening — Primary source
Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.5.6 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.