Common Core ELA4th GradeReading: Informational

RI.4.6: Compare Firsthand and Secondhand Accounts

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.6 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.

The Official Wording

Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 4, Reading: Informational Text · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RI.4.6 Means in Plain English

Fourth graders read two accounts of one event, say a solar eclipse: one firsthand, from a child who watched it, and one secondhand, from a science website. They compare what each focuses on and what information only that account can give.

Third grade (RI.3.6) asked students to tell their own point of view from the author’s. Fourth grade compares two writers, one who was at the event and one who learned about it afterward. Fifth graders (RI.5.6) analyze several accounts and the point of view behind each.

RI.4.6 I Can Statements

I can tell a firsthand account from a secondhand account.
I can compare what two accounts of one event focus on.
I can explain what each account tells that the other cannot.

RI.4.6 Worked Example

Two accounts of the same eclipse, written for this page, and the weak answer names where each came from instead of comparing them.

Read the Story

Account 1, from a fourth grader’s journal: We sat on the bleachers in our paper eclipse glasses and watched the moon take bigger and bigger bites out of the sun. Then the last sliver disappeared, and it got dark like evening in a few seconds. The parking lot lights clicked on. It suddenly felt cold, and everybody screamed and clapped. It felt like one minute, but Dad timed it at almost four.Account 2, from a science website: On April 8, 2024, the moon passed directly between the sun and Earth. Its shadow crossed Mexico, the United States and Canada along a path more than 100 miles wide. Inside the path, the sun was completely covered for up to about four and a half minutes. Outside it, people saw only part of the sun covered. The next total eclipse visible from the lower 48 states will happen in 2044.

A short passage written for this page.

Question: How are the two accounts different in what they focus on and in the information they give?

Not Yet“Account 1 is a journal and Account 2 is a website. Account 1 is more fun to read.”It names where each account came from and adds an opinion, but it never compares what the writers focus on or what each one tells that the other does not.

Meets the Standard“Account 1 focuses on what it was like in one spot: it got ‘dark like evening in a few seconds,’ the lights clicked on, it felt cold and people screamed. Only someone who was there could tell that. Account 2 focuses on the whole event: where the shadow went, how wide the path was, how long the sun was covered and when the next one comes. The journal writer could not see all that from the bleachers. Both agree the dark lasted about four minutes.”The student names each account’s focus, backs it with details, explains why each writer could or could not know those things and finds where the two agree.

Question Stems to Use

Who wrote this account? Were they there?What does this account focus on?What can only someone who was there tell you?What does the secondhand account tell that the firsthand one cannot?Where do the two accounts agree?

Common Mistakes with RI.4.6

Comparing the forms, not the focus

“One is a journal and one is a website.”

Try this: Ask what each writer pays attention to, then have students finish the sentence “Account 1 is mostly about…” for both.

Treating the secondhand account as more true

“The website is right because it has numbers.”

Try this: Show that both accounts roughly agree on how long it lasted, then discuss what each writer was in a position to know.

Mixing up firsthand and first person

Calling a news story firsthand because the reporter writes “I” about interviewing a witness

Try this: Ask one question only: was this writer at the event? Using “I” does not make an account firsthand.

Where RI.4.6 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.3.6Tell your own point of view apart from the author’s point of view.

AlongsideRL.4.6Compare stories told in the first person and the third person.W.4.8Recall information from experience or gather it from print and digital sources, and take notes.

Comes NextRI.5.6Analyze several accounts of the same event, noting similarities and differences in point of view.

Practice RI.4.6

Quick Check

Which account is firsthand, and how can you tell?
Account 1. The writer was there, sitting on the bleachers and watching the sky go dark.
What does Account 2 tell that Account 1 cannot?
Facts about the whole event: the date, the countries the shadow crossed, the width of the path, the longest time the sun was covered and the year of the next total eclipse in the lower 48 states.
What do both accounts agree on?
That the sun was covered and it stayed dark for about four minutes.

RI.4.6: Other Names

RI.4.6CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.6