A Primary Look at Primary SourcesA Primary Look at Primary Sources

Using primary sources in the primary classroom

Using primary sources in the primary classroom

By Cheryl L. Best2nd Grade TeacherLibrary of Congress AmbassadorBunker Hill,Illinoisbest5@madisontelco.com

DefinitionDefinitionA primary source is an original source,

created in a time period of study.

Examples of Primary SourcesExamples of Primary Sources

• Newspaper• Photograph• Documents/ speeches, receipts • Diary• Music• Art• Cartoons• Sound Recordings

• Newspaper• Photograph• Documents/ speeches, receipts • Diary• Music• Art• Cartoons• Sound Recordings

What is NOT oneWhat is NOT one

• Encyclopedia• Dictionaries• Biographies• Textbooks

Connection to StandardsConnection to Standards

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) Standardshttp://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/

History: 1. Understands and knows how to analyze chronological relationships and patterns 2. Understands the historical

Language Arts:Uses viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual mediaUses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of literary texts Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of informational texts

Visual Arts:Understands the visual arts in relation to history and cultures

IL State Standards, www.isbe.net/ils

Social StudiesIL 16.A Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation

Language Arts5.B Analyze and evaluate information acquired from various sources.

Why use primary sources? Why use primary sources?

Library of Congresswww.loc.gov

What is history and how can we make sense of it? How can we excite our students about the past and teach them to think like historians? One way we can learn about the past is by examining primary sources. They make history come alive. They offer different points of view. Students will find them engaging. Analyzing them will encourage historical thinking. Making connections to the past will help them understand the present.

Cartoon can be obtained online at:

Rogers, Rob. Tainted Nut. 02/01/09. Post-gazette NOW, Opinion/Rob Rogers. Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Retrieved 2/10/09 from http://www.post-gazette.com/robrogers/default.asp?id=24

So what?

• Look at picture• Ask questions of the picture• Who?• What?• Where?• When?• Why?

Library Congress Source SetLibrary Congress Source Set

Compare & contrast your family to the family in the photograph.

Compare & contrast your family to the family in the photograph.

Library Congress Source SetLibrary Congress Source Set

Using a LetterUsing a Letter• Using a letter for information.

•Who?

•What?

•Where?

•How?

•Why?

Library Congress Source SetLibrary Congress Source Set

Using a Bill of SaleUsing a Bill of Sale

Analyze by age, children, adult & sex of each

Library Congress Source SetLibrary Congress Source Set

PoetryPoetryCarl Sandburg (1878–1967). Cornhuskers. 1918. Illinois FarmerBURY this old Illinois farmer with respect.He slept the Illinois nights of his life after days of work in Illinois cornfields.Now he goes on a long sleep.The wind he listened to in the corn silk and the tassels, the wind that combed his red beard zero mornings when the snow lay white on the yellow ears in the bushel basket at the corncrib,The same wind will now blow over the place here where his hands must dream of Illinois corn.

Library Congress Source SetLibrary Congress Source Set

Using Primary Sources in the Classroom

Using Primary Sources in the Classroom

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.George Santayana,

• Provoke questions• Give ideas• Allow for thought• Teach history• Spark interest• Challenge & inspire

Connecting to LiteratureConnecting to Literature

• “Books as Hooks” handouts created by Gail Petri, Education Resource Specialist at the Library of Congress

• The Learning Page, Community Center

• Zoom In Activity- Primary Source Learning Web site, Northern VA TPS Program

Teaching with Primary Sources ProgramTeaching with Primary Sources Program

Library of Congress CD

Presentation Resource CD

Library of Congress CD

Presentation Resource CD

Library of Congresswww.loc.gov

ResourcesResources1. Rogers, Rob. Tainted Nut. 02/01/09. Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Retrieved 02/10/09 from

http://www.post-gazette.com/robrogers/default.asp?id=24 2. Donnely, A. The resurrection of Henry Box Brown at Philadelphia, who escaped from

Richmond Va. In a box 3 feet long 2 ½ ft. deep and 2 ft wide. Prints & Photograph Division, Library of Congress. Retrieved 02/10/09 from http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/PPALL:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3g04659))

3. Lange, Dorothea. Migrant family looking for work in the pea fields. California. American Memory Collection, Library of Congress. Retrieved 02/10/09 from http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/fsaall:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(fsa+8b27082))+@field(COLLID+fsa))

4. Wright, Orville. Family Papers: Correspondence, 1881, 1888-1898- The Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers. American Memory, Library of Congress. Retrieved 02/10/09 from http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mwright&fileName=02/02037/mwright02037.db&recNum=1

5. Auction Sale Of Negroes. 1855. Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 Collection, American Memory. Library of Congress. Retrieved 02/10/09 from http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/eaa:@field(DOCID+@lit(eaa000402))

6. Carl Sandburg, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left. 1955. Prints & Photograph Division, Library of Congress. Retrieved 02/10/09 from http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/ils:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3c15064))+@field(COLLID+cph))