We’re finally starting Story of the World and digging right into the first chapter.
The book doesn’t specifically address a timeline, at least not at this point, but it does jump right in to asking how we know about things that happened. A timeline is a good way to keep track of the things that happened in the world, and of the things that happened to us. The first reading is really good about going directly to the child’s perspective by asking how does s/he know what happened before they started remembering things. This activity of creating a personal timeline allows the child to find out about those things and to remember things on their own. It allows them to record some facts and get a personal basis for keeping track of things on a big world timeline later.
This is also a pull-out book, which makes it a fun surprise in their notebooks. If you aren’t a Notebooker, that’s ok too- you can put covers on the timeline to keep it a book or skip the folding steps and simply hang it on the wall.
Supplies:
1 sheet of typing paper
1 sheet of heavier paper to put in the Notebook
scissors, tape, gluestick, yardstick or ruler, black marker and a pencil
To do:
Have the child cut the paper in half lengthwise.
If they’re younger, like Lil’Miss, you can instruct them to fold it first, to give them a line to cut on. She folded it “like a hotdog bun” and then cut on the resulting line.
Tape the two long strips together at the short end.
Using a yardstick or ruler and the black marker, draw a line all the length of the long strip right down the middle. This is your timeline.
To make it a pull-out booklet, fold the strip in half at the middle spot where you taped.
Now fold the top half BACK toward the middle fold. Flip over and repeat.
You’re making a zig zag!
At the left side of the strip, write a 0 or “birth”.
At the right- choose an age to take it to. I chose 10 because Lil’Miss is 7, so there are a few years that haven’t happened yet and we can talk about that. Also the wall timeline that we’ll use is in 1000 year increments and I wanted a measure of 10 to show her how it compares.
Mark in other years as you wish. There were only 10, so we marked in all the years.
Now talk about things that the child remembers and have them write it on the timeline. Draw a line perpendicular to the timeline to mark the approximate date it happened and then write or draw what happened below. Make sure to help them by writing in some things that happened before they remember!
Glue the back of the last fold into your notebook or onto a stronger piece of paper.
On the front the kiddo can write “My Timeline” or something that they would like.
And now your kiddo has a pull-out timeline book to fit in their notebook! They can add more to it when they remember something really important or over time, when things happen that they want to remember!
This post was published on Muse of the Morning.com
