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4th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 13 of 14

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.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 4.13(D); 4.7(B) · 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 Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 13 of 14 in 4th grade English Language Arts, after Spelling Rules and before Tall Tales, Myths & Plays.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

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

  2. Question 2

    An autobiography is written by…

    • a computer
    • a newspaper
    • someone who never met the person
    • the person it is about

  3. Question 3

    “I felt the ground shake, and my cup fell off the table.” What kind of account is this?

    • a secondhand account
    • a glossary
    • a firsthand account
    • a table of contents

  4. Question 4

    Why might two accounts of the same event be different?

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

  5. Question 5

    What is one weakness of a firsthand account?

    • it is always made up
    • it shows only one person's view
    • it has no details
    • the writer was not there

  6. Question 6

    A diary is a firsthand account because…

    • it is short
    • the writer tells about their own life
    • it has a lock
    • it is about history

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