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Reading: Informational Text4th Grade

RI.4.6

Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic.

For parents
Discuss: 'A diary entry is firsthand (I was there). A textbook is secondhand (someone describes what happened).'
Free sample questions
  1. Question 1
    When comparing a firsthand account and a secondhand account of the same event, what is one important difference you would expect to find?
    • The secondhand account will include the writer's personal feelings from being there.
    • The firsthand account will share personal experiences and direct observations.
    • The secondhand account will always be written by a famous historian.
    • The firsthand account will mostly tell about what others saw and felt.
  2. Question 2
    Read the passage: A firsthand account is written by someone who was actually there and lived through the event themselves. A secondhand account is written by someone who studied or read about the event later but did not see it happen. For example, a diary a person wrote during a battle is firsthand, while a textbook written many years afterward is secondhand. Which is a firsthand account?
    • A textbook chapter about the Civil War
    • A soldier's diary from the Civil War battlefield
    • A Wikipedia article about a battle
    • A movie about the war
  3. Question 3
    Read the passage: A firsthand account comes from a person who lived through an event, so it often shares their own feelings, senses, and personal experiences. A secondhand account comes from someone who learned about the event afterward, so it usually reports the facts in a calmer, more objective way, without personal emotion. How might a firsthand account DIFFER from a secondhand account of the same event?
    • Secondhand accounts have more feelings
    • They're always exactly the same
    • Firsthand accounts include personal feelings and experiences; secondhand accounts are more objective
    • Firsthand accounts are always shorter

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