Source Type 1 - The Historic Newspaper

Recite Place Promise. Examine the front page of one historic local newspaper (1900s era).

• Affirm: 'This is a primary source.'
• Set discipline: 4 Wineburg questions today

Today we meet our FIRST source type: the historic NEWSPAPER. A newspaper is a PRIMARY SOURCE - made by people who were alive at the time it reports. A historian asks 4 questions of every newspaper: WHO made it? (SOURCING) WHAT was happening at the time? (CONTEXTUALIZATION) WHAT do other sources say? (CORROBORATION) WHAT exactly does it say AND what does it NOT say? (CLOSE READING). We learn the Source Detective Card today - we will use it for all 5 source types.

• Every word, every choice, every omission tells us something.

  model 'NEW SCHOOL OPENS ON ELM STREET' - written by the local newspaper editor for the town's reading public.

  prompt On this 1907 article about our school's opening, what does the headline say?

• Name the 4 Wineburg questions.
• What does SOURCING mean?

M-3-F-HIS-06-A Photograph

8.5x11 scan of one historic local newspaper front-page article from 1890s-1950s. Teacher-localized via local historical society or Library of Congress Chronicling America (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov). Example: 'NEW SCHOOL OPENS ON ELM STREET' (1907). Includes headline, byline if available, dateline, 4-6 paragraphs of body. Older typography preserved. Source line: '[Newspaper Name], [Date]. From [Historical Society / LOC Chronicling America].'

• In pairs, examine 1 historic newspaper article. Fill in the Source Detective Card.
• Share one SOURCING and one CLOSE READING finding with the class.

M-3-F-HIS-06-B Chart

MG-3 reproduction at 8.5x11. 4 boxes labeled: SOURCING (Who? When? Where? Why? For whom?), CONTEXTUALIZATION (What was happening?), CORROBORATION (What do other sources say?), CLOSE READING (What exactly does it say? Not say?). Each box has 4 lines for child response and a sentence-frame starter. Header: 'Source Detective.' Footer: 'A historian asks four questions of every source.'

MG-3 Chart

One physical card per child + a wall-sized version of the same card. Used in lessons 6-12 on every source type. Children fill in the card on a printed worksheet OR write directly on a laminated card with dry-erase. The four-box layout is INTENTIONAL - it makes the historian's discipline visible and routine.

• Name the 4 Wineburg questions. Apply 1 to today's newspaper article.

• Add Source Detective vocabulary to Word Wall
• Preview: tomorrow we meet Source Type 2 - photograph

• Bring a current newspaper article (or one a family member shares). Apply 1 of the 4 Wineburg questions to it.