Christine A. Elmore
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Objectives: To distinguish between decade and century.
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To read simple time-lines including ones with B.C. and A.D. dates.
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To make a time-line of your own life using two-year intervals.
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Materials: Large chart paper, large graph paper, rulers, fine-line markers, pencils, posterboard, post-it notes.
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Procedure: 1. Begin by defining a time-line and its purpose (A time-line is a diagram that shows when and in what order important dates happened). Display a time-line on chart paper. An example might be:
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1492 1507 1607 1620 1775-83
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1492 -- Columbus crossed the Atlantic and reached the Caribbean Islands.
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1507 -- The New World was named America.
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1607 -- The colony of Jamestown was founded.
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1620 -- The Mayflower set sail..
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1775-83 -- The American Revolution took place.
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1776 -- The signing of the American Declaration of Independence.
Explain that time-lines are divided into equal parts and that this one is divided into 100-year segments called centuries. Century comes from the Latin word, centum, meaning 100. Time-lines can also be divided into 10-year periods called decades. Decade comes from the Greek word, deka, meaning 10.
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2. Examine the time-line together and ask such questions as:
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Toward which end of the time-line are the earliest events shown?
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Where are the later events shown?
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Did the Mayflower begin its voyage before the beginning of the American Revolution?
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In what year did Christopher Columbus cross the Atlantic Ocean?
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3. Now instruct the students that they will be creating a time-line of their lives using 2-year segments. Have them use rulers to draw a line on large graph paper positioned horizontally. Direct them to put the year they were born at the left end of the time-line and the year 200 and the right end. It might look something like this:
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Ask them to think about some important events that have happened in their lives like the time when:
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-- you said your first word
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-- you learned to walk
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-- you first went to school
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-- you lost your first tooth
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-- you learned to tie your shoes
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-- you learned to ride your bike
Encourage students to insert at least five events on their time-lines. Have them share their time-line with a partner.
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4. Tell the students that you will now show them a time-line that is a little more complicated. Explain that most people today use a system of dividing time into B.C. and A.D. Here is a sample:
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5000 B.C.
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2000-1000
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A.D. 1
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A.D. 1000
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A.D. 1300
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5000 B.C. -- First Americans began farming.
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2000-1000 B.C. -- Beginnings of the Mayan Culture in Central America.
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A. D. 1 -- The birth of Christ.
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A. D. 1000 -- The Vikings landed in North America.
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A. D. 1300 -- The rise of the Aztecs in Mexico.
Display this time-line on large chart paper and explain: Let’s look at the earliest date given on this time-line. Where would that be? (5000 B.C. when the first Americans began to farm.) The abbreviation B.C. stands for before Christ so this event happened before Christ was born. Now look at the date when Christ was born. Keep moving to the right on this line. Notice that the Vikings landed in North America in 1000 A.D., that is 1000 years after the birth of Christ. A.D. means anno Domini which is Latin for the year of the Lord. In order to read B.C. dates on a time-line you count backward from the year 1. The earlier the date is, the larger the number is. To read A.D. dates you have to count on or forward from the year 1. The largest number on the right end of the time-line is the most recent date.
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5. Follow-up activities would involve the students using large posterboard to create time-lines of the lives of our three remarkable women in this unit. Instruct them to draw a long line horizontally on the posterboard and at the left end write the birth-date of the subject and at the other end, if appropriate, write the death-date. After selecting 5-6 important dates in the person’s life, students would follow the correct chronological order and insert them using post-it notes on the time-line. A discussion of the person’s life, the turning points and other significant events would then ensue.
--Adapted from Bank’s (et al.) time-line lesson on pp. 122-123.
