This Primary & Secondary Sources Complete Mini-Unit brings those skills together in a practical collection of lessons and activities for upper elementary and middle school social studies.

Start with a Google Slides presentation and guided notes, reinforce learning with reading and independent practice, and give students a chance to apply their knowledge through the Source Showdown review game and a hands-on Gallery Walk. The unit also introduces the Six C’s of Primary Source Analysis, helping students move beyond simple classification toward more thoughtful historical inquiry.

A Complete Set of Teaching Resources

The mini-unit includes:

• A 16-slide Google Slides presentation
• Guided notes with answer key
• Teacher directions and student-friendly reading
• A one-page primary vs. secondary sources reference
• Independent practice worksheet with answer key
• A 26-slide Source Showdown game
• Gallery Walk images and Source Sleuth recording sheets
• Six C’s of Primary Source Analysis worksheets, including color, black-and-white, and electronic formats
• A completed sample and teacher notes
• A separate independent assessment

What Students Will Learn

Students will practice distinguishing primary from secondary sources, identifying clues about who created a source and when, explaining their classifications, and examining historical evidence more carefully. Through the Gallery Walk and Six C’s activities, they will begin to consider how sources can be interpreted and what they can—and cannot—tell us about the past.

Designed for Flexible Classroom Use

Use the materials as a complete mini-unit or select individual components to supplement your existing history curriculum. The combination of direct instruction, written practice, interactive review, visual analysis, and assessment gives you several ways to introduce and reinforce these essential social studies skills.

If you’re looking for primary and secondary sources activities, worksheets, Google Slides, source analysis lessons, and a classroom gallery walk, this mini-unit brings those resources together in one place.

Give students the tools to identify historical sources, support their thinking, and begin working like historians.

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Looking for more image analysis resources? Check out this Constitution Day Activity!

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