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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.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 4.1.9.1; 4.1.6.3 · collecting information from different sources, and fact and opinion in a text

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 Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 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: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

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

    Lena compares a diary and a textbook about the same storm. What should she look for?

    • which one has more pages
    • how the focus and information differ
    • which one is newer to her
    • which cover is brighter

  2. Question 2

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

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

  3. Question 3

    Which is the best source of how a sports fan felt at the game?

    • an article written from the final score
    • the fan's own blog post written that night
    • a schedule of games
    • a sports almanac

  4. Question 4

    Why might two accounts of the same event be different?

    • each writer saw or learned different things
    • they were printed in different fonts
    • one must be a fairy tale
    • events never really happen

  5. Question 5

    What is a firsthand account?

    • a made-up story
    • a list of facts from many books
    • a story told by someone who read about it
    • a telling of an event by someone who was there

  6. Question 6

    A history book quotes a soldier's letter. The letter is a firsthand account. The book is…

    • a diary
    • a firsthand account
    • a secondhand account
    • a fairy tale

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