By Joyce R
Why Use Timelines?
Do you remember wondering how all the historical things you had learned about fit
together? Do you remember dreading studying history because of all those awful dates to
memorize? Then you are ready to try timelines!
Kinds of Timelines
1. Create a basic timeline for permanent reference
I made a world history timeline one summer several years ago. This
permanent world history timeline can be an ongoing reference. I
like to divide this timeline into sections: Bible History, Kingdoms, Arts and Science, and
because I am LDS, Book of Mormon History. When the children are reading the Bible, they
can check the timeline to find out that Moses lived at the same time that the Egyptians
had their great empire. As they study about the discovery of America, they notice that
Columbus lived between the time of the Vikings, and our time. Your children's questions
about events and people on the timeline can provide teaching opportunities.
I put only major events of history on this timeline. I didn't want too
much detail. I wanted the kids to eventually have a picture in their minds of this
timeline. It is a framework on which to hang other history knowledge they learn.
I also made a permanent American History Timeline. I started with 1492,
and divided the timeline into sections for American history, church history, arts and
science, and our family. The birth dates and pictures of our immediate family, and the
grandparents and great-grandparents are on this timeline. I included our immigrant
ancestors so the children could see when our family came to America, and what countries
they came from. The kids found it interesting that their Great-Grandmother, who they knew,
was born at about the time Idaho became a state, and at about the same time as Rose, Laura
Ingall's daugher, was born.
2. Have children add to a permanent timeline as they learn over several years
Another way of making a permanent timeline is to have the children create it over time
as they study different parts of history. As they study about Columbus, they add the date
for the discovery of America. Later as they studied the Civil War, they would add Abraham
Lincoln to the timeline.
3. Another child-created timeline is the temporary unit study timeline.
This timeline is created as you study a specific part of history, such as the Civil
War. Each day or week, details are added to the timeline to reinforce and review what was
learned. These timelines may become quite detailed.
4. Family Timeline
This timeline teaches young children about the passage of time, the seasons, and the
family. Divide the timeline into 12 parts for the months. Put birthdays, holidays, and
family activities on the timeline for the children to look forward to. As each month
begins, decide how to color that part of the timeline to represent the season. A large
calendar can also be used for this activity instead of a timeline.
5. Book Timelines
Book timelines are nice because they don't take up any wall space. They can be created
over a year's study, or can be added to year after year. A drawback is that you don't get
the overall view like you do with a wall timeline.
Where to put Timelines
A great place for timelines is inside stair wells. Hall walls are great too. It is
best if they are placed near your school area so they can be refered to conveniently. Try
to put them at the eye level of your children. If timelines are in too remote a spot or
are placed too high they may be ignored. If you are really stressed for space, put your
timeline low, right along the baseboards. The kids don't mind sitting on the floor to look
at it.
How to Make a Wall Timeline
1. Decide the topic of your timeline: World History, USA History, etc.
2. You can make your temporary timeline from a roll of newsprint. If it will be permanent,
I would recommend using cardstock or poster board for durability. Each section can be made
separately on a different piece of posterboard.
3. Decide what span of time to cover - how many years.
4. Figure out how much actual wall space you have to use - how many inches.
5. Divide the wall space by the number of years. Now you know how many inches equal a
year. Draw a line down the length of the timeline and divide it into segments of time such
as 1000 years, 100 years, 10 years etc. Label with the BC and AD dates. Unless you are
studying a very short period of time in great detail, you will probably not need to label
every year. NOTE: There is no "zero" date. Christ was born 1 AD.
6. Choose which events and people to add to your timeline.
7. Add Illustrations. On my world history timeline, I drew pictures directly on the
timeline, or let your children draw the pictures. On the American history timeline, I
photocopied pictures from books then colored them with markers. You may also choose to cut
pictures from old discarded history textbooks from Deseret Industries, or used books
sales. If is also possible to buy educational posters and cut them up for the pictures.
Bible or history coloring books, and computer clip-art are other sources of pictures.
8. Protect your permanent timelines by laminating them or covering them with clear contact
paper. Attach the sections to the wall with tacks, then join them together with a strip of
shipping tape or clear contact paper.
9. If you want to add something to a timeline that has been laminated or contact papered,
just draw the new picture on a piece of paper, cut it out, then cover it with a piece of
clear contact paper that extends out from the pictures about an inch. Now just stick it
right on your timeline.
Making a Book Timeline
Folded Timeline
There are different ways to make a timeline in a book. One way it to take a long piece
of butcher paper, or newsprint paper and cut a strip 11 in wide, and as long as you want.
Now very carefully fold it back and forth like a fan so that the folded pieces are 8 1/2
inches wide. Punch holes on one side, and insert into a 3-ring notebook. Now your timeline
can be seen and worked on a page at a time, or can be taken out of the book to be viewed
all at once.
Cut page Timeline
Put two notebook divider pages into a 3-ring notebook. Draw a line across the two
pages about 3 inches from the top. This is the timeline. Divide this line into sections
and add the dates. You may want to add just a few small pictures to this timeline, perhaps
6 or 10 at the most. Now use a paper cutter to cut the top 3 1/2 inches off the top of a
short stack of notebook paper. Put the paper into the notebook between the dividers. Now
the child can create pages for different dates on the timeline. Put a small arrow at the
top of the notebook page pointing to the time on the timeline. Pictures, reports,
vocabulary words etc can be added to the book.
If you want to include a very large number of dates for a more detailed timeline, use
several divider pages to create the timeline. Put the pages pertaining to each segment of
history between the correct divider pages.
Ideas for What to Put on a Timeline
What you put your your timeline depends on the period of time you are covering, the
subject you are emphasizing, and your family's interests. Here are a few ideas:
History book dates - empires, wars, battles, documents, settlements, trends, rulers,
explorers
Church History including scriptural dates and people
Arts and scientific discoveries - composers, artists, inventors, inventions, authors etc.
Your family and ancestors - family birth dates, grandparents, immigration dates etc
Ideas for Timeline Dates
Look for the book, The Timetables of History, by Bernard Grun - This
helpful book has pages for each period of history and lists what was happening at that
time. The book can be found at your local library. Don't put too much on timeline.
Choose dates that have meaning for you.
World History
5000 BC 2000 BC Sumeria - invented
writing
4000 BC 500 BC Egypt
2750 BC 1500 BC Stonehenge, England
2400 BC 539 BC Babylon - Hammurabi's Laws
1440 AD 1520 AD Incas in America
1200 BC 600 BC Olmecs in America
612 BC Nebuchadnezzar
500 BC 600 AD Mayans in America
500 BC 330 BC Persian Empire
500 BC 140 BC Greece - Alexander
500 BC 480 AD Roman Empire
221 BC 220 AD Golden Age of China -
Confucius
200 BC - paper invented
1 AD Birth of Christ
480 AD 570 AD Byzantine Empire
570 1450 Middle Ages
600 1450 Aztecs in
America
600 1110 Vikings
1095 1270 The Crusades
1450 1750 The
Renaissance
1750 1914 The industrial Revolution
1776 American Revolution
1789 French Revolution
1861 Tsar Alexander II freed
the serfs
1894 1917 Nicholas II
1914 1918 WWI
1939 1945 WWII
1974 Oil Embargo
1989 Gulf War
1993 World Wide Web
Bible Dates - approximate
4000 BC Adam
2300 BC Noah
Tower of Babel
2040 BC Abraham
1750 BC Joseph
1320 BC Exodus - Moses
1150 BC Israelites enter Caanan (Holy Land)
1018 BC David
587 BC Israel captured by Babylon
165 Daniel
1 AD Birth of Christ
34 AD Crucifixion
45 AD Paul's Missionary Journeys begin
LDS Book of Mormon dates- approximate
2000 BC Brother of Jared
600 BC Lehi
150 BC Abinadi
124 BC King Benjamin
90 BC Ammon
80 BC Alma
64 BC Sons of Helaman
6 BC Samuel
34 AD Christ
385 AD Mormon
421 AD Moroni
United States History
1492 Columbus
1607 Jamestown - John Smith
1620 Pilgrims - Miles Standish
1629 Puritans
1769 Daniel Boone
1775 - 1783 Revolutionary War
1776 Declaration of Independence
1789 George Washington
1791 Bill of Rights
1803 Louisiana Purchase
1804 Lewis and Clark
1807 Zebulon Pike explores south-west
1819 Florida Territory
1830s Westward movement
1845 Texas Territory
1846 Oregon Country
1848 Western States become part of USA
1848 California Gold Rush
1860 Abraham Lincoln
1861 - 1865 Civil War
1870 Laura - Little House in the Big Woods
1876 Telephone - Alexander G Bell
1880 George Washington Carver
1914 Panama Canal finished
1920 Women Vote
1922 Philo T Farnsworth -TV-Blackfoot, ID!
1962 First Satellite
1969 Man on Moon
More Arts, Science, Explorers
From 4000 BC to 3000 BC
Calendar
Mirror
Harp and Flute
Wheel
From 3000 BC to 2000 BC
Cuneiform writing
libraries
domesticated dogs
astronomy
iron
papyrus
bow and arrow
mummies
domesticated chickens
From 2000 BC to 1000 BC
Gilgamesh Epic
geometry
Code of Hammurabi
Irrigation - Egypt
sun dials
water clock
From 1000 BC to 500 BC
purple dye
steel
hand cranks
horseshoes
1st Olympic Games 776 BC
Aesop's Fables
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
lock and key
pontoon bridge
From 500 BC to 1 AD
500 Cataract operation - India
460 Hippocrates - Medicine - Greece
438 Parthenon completed
400 catapults
Carrier Pigeons - Greece
399 Socrates - Plato - Aristotle
275 Colossus of Rhodes completed
323 Euclid - mathematician
264 Gladiators
239 Introduction of Leap Year
215 Great Wall of China
From 1 AD to 1000 AD
43 AD London Founded
70 Virgil, Horace, Roman poets
140 Venus de Milo -Greek statue of beauty
250 first book of algebra - Greece
250 persecution of Christians
264 Constantine
271 compass - China
300 bowling - Germany
325 Council of Nicaea
360 scrolls replaced by books
390 1st Hallelujah Hymns
550 chess
800 King Charlemagne
800 Iceland discovered by Irish Monks
From 1000 AD to 1500 AD
1000 Leif Erikson discovers Vinland
1200 engagement rings become popular
1202 court jester
1290 spectacle invented
1324 Marco Polo - "The Traveler"
1370 crossbow
1452 1519 Leonardo da Vinci - artist - scientist
1453 Gutenberg Bible
1473 1543 Copernicus - astronomer
1477 Botticelli- artist
1480 parachute - Leonardo de Vince
1492 Columbus
1498 Vasco Da Gama around Africa
From 1500 to 1600
1504 Michelangelo - artist
1505 Raphael - artist
1517 Martin Luther
1519 1522 Magellan around the world
1520 Chocolate brought to Spain
1531 Hailey's comet causes fear
1532 Chaucer - English writer
1534 Henry VIII
1536 John Calvin
1539 First Christmas tree
1564 1642 Galileo - astronomer
1589 fork invented
From 1660 to 1700
1643 barometer - Italy
1654 Rembrandt - artist
1660 pencil - Germany
1666 cheddar cheese invented
1677 ice-cream
1680 Dodo bird becomes extinct
1687 Sir Isaac Newton - astronomer
From 1700 to 1800
1700 1800 Agricultural Revolution
1704 Bach - composer
1704 Handel - composer
1732 Benjamin Franklin - Poor Richard...
1738 cuckoo clock
1762 Mozart tours at age 6 - composer
1775 steam engine
1778 USA slave importation abolished
1782 first balloon
1783 Beethoven's first works printed
1785 seismograph
1787 steamboat
1793 telegraph
From 1800 to 1900
1800 battery
1810 Napoleon
1825 railroad
1829 Chopin - composer
1829 typewriter
1834 McCormick Reaping Machine
1835 camera
1843 Sequoya invents Cherokee Alphabet
1846 Irish potato famine
1855 Florence Nightingale - nurse
1857 Boy Scouts
1865 carpet sweeper
1866 dynamite invented
1866 Monet - artist
1873 Rimsky-Korsakov - composer
1876 telephone
1882 first skyscraper - Chicago
1882 machine gun
1883 Cezanne - artist
1898 zeppelin
From 1900 to present
1900 radio
1908 Model T car
1910 "week-end" becomes popular
1912 North and South Poles explored
1914 early rocket experiments
1922 Louis Armstrong - composer
1930 planet Pluto discovered
1938 Einstein
1940 electron microscope
1940 helicopter
1942 computer
1947 supersonic jet
1951 electricity from atomic energy Arco ID
1967 first heart transplant
1973 first space station
1977 Voyager launched
1981 space shuttle
1986 Challenger space shuttle explodes
1987 Gorgachev - glasnost
1989 computer viruses
1989 Berlin Wall came down
1990-1991 Break-up of the Soviet Union
1991 Gulf War
1993 World Wide Web opens up Internet
1994 Meteors Crash into Jupiter
1997 Comet Hale-Bopp
1997 Sojourner on Mars
1990 Hubble Telescope launched
1999 Concern about Y2K
2001 Terrorism at Trade Towers
birthdays of family members
important family dates such as marriage, when moved to present
location, etc.
Pictures for USA timelines can also be obtained from Creation's Child, P.O. Box
3004 #44, Corvallis OR 97339.
===========================
RESOURCES for UNIT STUDIES and TIMELINES
Weaver Curriculum
2752 Scarborough
Riverside CA 92503
(888) 367-9871
K-6th Christian unit studies
KONOS
P.O. Box 1534
Richardson, TX 75083
(214) 669-8337
Christian unit studies and timelines
Iron Rod Units
P.O. Box 1205
Rainier OR 97048
(503) 728-2212
rbonser@transport.com
LDS based unit studies
Free Things for Kids to Write Away For
PO Box 85
Livington, NJ 07039
This is a fun way to get kids to write! They can write and receive free coloring books,
pamphlets, seeds, etc.
*FREE Units on the Internet
(http://www.alaska.net/~cccandc/free.htm
A collection of over 150 great free units from many sources.
Hands On History
201 Constance Dr.
New Lenox IL 60451
Great materials for history unit studies. Costumes, old money, battlefield maps, cotton
seeds, recipes, runaway slave poster etc.
Teachers Guide to Free Curriculum Materials
214 Center St
Randolph WI 53956
This guide costs $22.50, but it is worth it. I have received free materials worth many
times that by using this guide. I have received coal samples, a 300 page book, posters,
lesson plans, and pamphlets, free, by writing to addresses in this book.
Free Channel 10 Educ. TV Schedule
Idaho Depart of Ed
Len B Jordon Blding
650 West State Street
Boise, ID 83720
Many programs are block-fed. That is, they broadcast a whole group of the same show one
right after another so you can tape them then play them as you wish.
Kid's Discover Magazine
P.O. Box 54205
Bolder, CO 80322-4205
$19.95 per year
Excellent! Each magazine covers one topic such as pyramids, weather, or skyscrapers.
Loaded with great pictures. Each magazine makes a great starting place for a unit.
Creation's Child
P.O. Vox 3004 #44
Corvallis OR 97339
This company has an inexpensive American History timeline with many pictures.
Other Sources:
Library, Boy Scout Merit Badges, museum pamphlets, school supply stores, power company
etc.
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Revised: June 21, 2005.