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4th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 13 of 13

Firsthand or Secondhand?

Compare accounts by people who were there with accounts written later.

What your child practices

Children practice telling firsthand accounts (diaries, letters, interviews) from secondhand ones (textbooks, reports, biographies) and what each kind shows best.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 4.RI.6 · comparing firsthand and secondhand accounts of the same event

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A firsthand account is by someone who was there: a diary, letter or interview.
  2. A secondhand account is written later by someone who wasn’t there: a textbook or report.
  3. Firsthand shows feelings up close. Secondhand often gathers facts from many sources.

Example: Which is most likely a firsthand account of a volcano erupting: a letter from a family nearby, or an encyclopedia page? Firsthand means the writer saw it. The family lived nearby and saw it. Answer: a letter from a family who lived nearby

Firsthand or Secondhand? in Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 13 of 13 in 4th grade English Language Arts, after Spelling Rules.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Arizona Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which is most likely a firsthand account of a volcano erupting?

    • a website summary
    • an encyclopedia entry written later
    • a letter from a family who lived nearby
    • a cartoon about volcanoes

  2. Question 2

    Jay interviews his grandmother about her first day of school. Her answers are…

    • a secondhand account
    • a summary
    • a myth
    • a firsthand account

  3. Question 3

    Which is the best source for the facts and numbers of a whole season?

    • a sports report that gathers many games
    • a ticket stub
    • one fan's diary of one game
    • a cheer the fans sang

  4. Question 4

    Maya writes in her diary about the flood in her town that day. What is it?

    • a poem about the sea
    • a secondhand account
    • a fairy tale
    • a firsthand account

  5. Question 5

    Which is a secondhand account?

    • the scientist's own notebook
    • a video of the scientist talking
    • a biography of a scientist written after she died
    • a letter the scientist wrote

  6. Question 6

    Why might a firsthand account of a parade focus on one float?

    • secondhand accounts never mention floats
    • the writer stood near that float
    • the writer was not there
    • only one float was in the parade

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