3.13.D

ELA3rd GradeThe student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes.

The Standard

identify primary and secondary sources

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students decide whether information comes directly from someone or something connected to an event, or from a later account. They use the creator, date, and source type as clues.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students correctly classify diaries, interviews, photographs, biographies, and textbook accounts. They explain each choice using who created the source, when it was created, and how the creator knew the information.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think primary means the first source they find or the most trustworthy source. They may also assume every old item is primary and every website is secondary.
How to Assess It: Give students a diary excerpt written during a flood and a textbook paragraph written years later. Ask them to label each source and underline one clue that supports each label.

Lesson moves

Give pairs a diary, event photograph, textbook page, and biography to sort, then have them attach a note explaining each choice.
Ask students to write: Which source would show what a person experienced during an event, and what clue proves it?
Play Source Detective by reading source cards aloud while teams hold up primary or secondary cards and explain their decisions.
Compare a recorded interview with a local firefighter to a newspaper summary, then discuss what each source contributes to a class report.

Keep exploring

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