Using Primary Sources, Grade 4 (Evidence-Based Inquiry)

Evidence-Based Inquiry Using Primary Sources, grade four, offers many opportunities for inquiry-based learning. This high-interest book is the perfect tool to increase reading comprehension. The primary sources, obtained from the Library of Congress, are photos of actual people, events, and symbols of another era. Accompanying text lends context to the photos and is offered at three readability levels to allow for differentiation. A final page in each section presents questions and prompts to encourage students to ask questions, look for answers, and make connections between the past and the present. Students will enjoy the primary source subjects, which range from the Gettysburg Address to a school for American Indians to a western frontier town.

The Evidence-Based Inquiry Using Primary Sources series for grades 1 to 6 will engage students in a world of inquiry and discovery. Inquiry-based learning is active learning that elicits a higher level of reading comprehension. The pages of these books contain exciting and fascinating real-world photographs, advertising, recipe cards, theater programs, posters, letters, and maps, as well as other interesting items that document history. Each book highlights 15 primary sources across four pages each. The first three pages of each set present the same primary source with text that is differentiated for three reading levels. The last page of each set offers questions and prompts to encourage higher-level thinking and inquiry.