Firsthand and Secondhand Accounts

1. Ask two students to describe yesterday's lunch: one who ate school lunch and one who did not but heard about it. Or describe a fire drill: one tells it as "I," the other as "they."
2. Ask the class: "Whose account had more feelings in it? Whose had more facts about everyone?" Draw out that being there gives you the inside view, and not being there can give you the wider view.
3. Write: "Firsthand = told by someone who was there (I, we). Secondhand = told by someone who was not there, using other sources."

1. Explain that the two accounts are written for this lesson about an imaginary town, so that we can compare them closely.
2. Read the diary: "Tuesday, March 14, 1952. I woke at four because Mother was shouting. Water was already over the bottom step, brown and cold, and it smelled of mud. We carried the hens up to my bedroom in a laundry basket. I could hear the Ferrises' dog barking but could not see their house for the rain. I have never been so frightened. — Ada, aged 11"
3. Read the history: "On March 14, 1952, the Mill River burst its banks after three days of heavy rain. Water up to one meter deep flooded 230 homes in Millbrook. No one died, but 600 people had to leave their houses. Afterward, the town built a stone wall along the river, which still stands today."
4. Ask: "Which one was written by someone who was there? How do you know?" Underline "I woke," "We carried," "I could hear." Point out that the date at the top is not the clue — the history has a date too.
5. Fill the two-column sheet together. Only the diary: the smell of mud, the hens in the basket, the barking dog, Ada's fear. Only the history: three days of rain (cause), 230 homes, 600 people, the wall built afterward.
6. Name the pattern: the firsthand account focuses on senses, feelings and a few close-up moments; it cannot see the whole town ("could not see their house"). The secondhand account focuses on causes, numbers and what happened afterward; it has no feelings because the writer was not frightened.
7. Ask the purpose question: "If you wanted to know how many homes flooded, which would you use? If you wanted to know what it felt like to be there?" Neither account is better overall — each is better for something.

“Firsthand does not mean truer, and secondhand does not mean wrong. Ada knows what the water smelled like; the historian knows how many houses it reached. Ask yourself what you need to know, then choose the account that was in a position to know it.”

1. Pairs read a second pair. Letter: "Dear Grandma, Today the new library opened! The mayor cut a red ribbon and everyone clapped. I was fourth in line and I borrowed a book about volcanoes. The carpet still smelled new. Love, Tom." Booklet: "Millbrook Library opened on May 2, 1960. It cost the town $40,000 and held 12,000 books. In its first year, 3,100 people joined."
2. Pairs decide which is firsthand and underline the clue words ("I was fourth," "I borrowed").
3. They fill a fresh two-column sheet: what only the letter gives, what only the booklet gives, and one word naming each column's focus (the answers to fish for: "feelings and small moments," "numbers and the big picture").
4. Ask the pair question: "A newspaper is writing about how much the library cost. Which account helps? A child wants to know if opening day was exciting. Which helps?" Pairs must say why, in one sentence each.

“Read each account and ask: could this writer have seen it? If the answer is no, they must have found it out from somewhere else.”

1. Students complete the printable practice sheet alone, identifying accounts and comparing what each focuses on.
2. Early finishers write two sentences about the flood that Ada could NOT have known, and explain why she could not.

1. Read: "The crowd roared as I crossed the finish line." Ask: "Firsthand or secondhand? What would a secondhand account of the same race probably tell you instead?" Take one answer naming numbers, times or results.