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History, Civics & Social Studies · Grade 5

Inquiry and Primary Sources

Fifth graders sharpen the historian's toolkit with real primary sources from early America: Benjamin Franklin's 1754 'Join, or Die' cartoon, Thomas Paine's 1776 'The American Crisis', and two conflicting accounts of the 1770 Boston Massacre. They ask inquiry questions, source and contextualize documents, detect point of view and loaded language, and corroborate evidence to judge reliability.

  • 4 lessons
  • About 95 minutes
  • Primary sources check: 9 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, highlight a text, match pairs, sort into groups, true or false and write a short answer
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What learners will discover

  • Develop compelling and supporting questions about early American history and choose sources likely to answer them.
  • Source and contextualize a primary source: identify its creator, date, audience and purpose, and the events happening at the time.
  • Identify point of view, loaded language and the difference between facts and opinions in a primary source.
  • Corroborate conflicting sources to judge their reliability and make a claim supported by evidence.

Lessons

  1. Questions that drive history 3 steps2 practiceabout 20 min
  2. Sourcing and context 4 steps2 practiceabout 25 min
  3. Point of view and loaded language 5 steps3 practiceabout 25 min
  4. Corroborating conflicting sources 5 steps2 practiceabout 25 min
  5. Primary sources check 9 questions at the end

Keep exploring

More 5th grade social studies

Guide for grown-ups