So as a 5th grade teacher, I always assumed my students are coming to Runnels’ Land already knowing how to read, interpret, and create timelines. Insert your LOL here. I think I’ve been a little delusional! I bet their 4th grade teachers thought the same thing and so on and so on back to down to primary grades! I took a different approach last year and decided to teach timelines as if they had never even heard of them. I would put a tally in the “Teacher Win” column for that tactic!

So I bet you are wondering how I went about planning this. Maybe you are thinking I had beautifully crafted, detailed lesson plans days in advance. You would be wrong. This came to me as a spur-of-the-moment inspiration after seeing how my students were struggling. This is why I don’t believe in planning in advance. I have done my best lessons on the fly. Apparently that approach can be problematic in terms of administrative observations, so I’ve had to adjust my philosophy a smidge.

One day we were in the midst of investigating one William Tecumseh Sherman. I shared an anecdote with my students about the time I was on a carriage ride in Savannah and spent the entire time in a lively Q & A with the driver about Mr. Sherman. I’m sure my mom and daughter were just wishing I would be quiet and enjoy the sights and sounds of my favorite Southern city. No way!

We had a small group discussion in a guided station about his March to the Sea. Then they responded to a discussion post on my course page (my county’s version of a web site) about whether or not Sherman was too harsh or his methods were fair. So a few days later, I gave them a follow up activity using a differentiated set of Sherman passages and comprehension questions from Bow Tie Guy and Wife. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/William-T-Sherman-Differentiated-Reading-Passages-1952898

Part of the questions required my students to create a timeline about Sherman’s life. I love this because it forced them to think at a higher level! I gave a quick intro to the assignment and let them go to town. Oh my. They had no clue what to do for the timeline. They also had a project due soon and one of the options was a timeline. So I reflected that afternoon about a different battle plan (see what I did there??) for the next day.

I decided to use a Timelines 101 approach to teaching timelines. I scoured Pinterest and the rest of the interwebs for some inspiration. As with most Social Studies topics, the resources were sparse. I found lots of lovely Kodak moments but not much for how to teach basic timeline strategies. I am a huge music fan so I tried to find a clip to help! My kiddos really respond to these, too! Well, thank goodness I came across this Gangnam Style parody by The Singing History Teachers! My students asked to watch it again immediately after it was over! We didn’t because #aintnobodygottimeforthat. http://safeshare.tv/w/mZECMwZRQb

 I also found a timeline game on a website I came across (via my assistant Pinterest) that happens to be a JACKPOT for social studies games. Yes, you read that correctly. They exist. It’s called “Technology Rocks. Seriously.” And she would be spot on with her URL. It should be called “my blog rocks.com!” Here is a link to the timeline game called “It’s a Matter of Time.” This would make a great station activity! I just showed it to them quickly and said I would put it on my course page, my county’s version of a website.

http://www.compasslearningodyssey.com/sample_act/23ss_time.html

Ok, so after I backed up a few steps in my teaching timelines process, we moved on to a collaborative activity to go along with the conclusion of our Civil War unit. Our standard requires the students to identify 5 major battles/campaigns: Fort Sumter, Gettysburg, Sherman’s March, The Atlanta Campaign, and Appomattox Courthouse. All I did was give them this little slip to glue in their notebooks (not TPT-worthy). I suggested they look up the details for all the dates first in their interactive notebook and then create a rough draft there as well. The final product was on large copy paper.

CivilWarTimelineSSW

I added The Battle of Bull Run because I think that was a significant early event and our students have to know about Stonewall Jackson. Great teachable moment with that battle because there were two battles at Bull Run/Manassas. Did you know that the South referred to battles by the city and the North referred to them by rivers? I did. I just get the particulars reversed! I had to clarify to my students that the First Battle of Bull Run did not mean it was the first battle of the war.

This activity was very easy to implement and could easily be adapted for whatever content you teach. You could even have students create a timeline for an assessment instead of a traditional summative assessment. You could scaffold it for younger students or to modify for English Language Learners by giving them the events and dates to include. Challenge gifted students by having them list the events they feel are significant and explain why they chose them.

CivilWarTimelineActionShotsSSWOther Ideas for Teaching Timelines

I think it is always extremely important for students to relate Social Studies content to their lives. I wanted them to complete an assignment where they had to think about important events in their own lives. In retrospect, doing this first would have been more effective. It’s tricky fitting everything in an hour when you are departmentalized. I used a sheet I think I got from the GCSS (Georgia Council for SS) conference I attended in 2015 for morning work the next day. I can’t share it because I’m not sure the exact source. Basically, they had to list some important events from their past, their present, and what they think the future might hold. It was a great way for me to get to know them even better, too! It was fun to see what they put for their future goals.

A few years ago I created a giant “Road Trip Through U.S. History” in the hallway for the whole year and each class had a couple of decades for which to list and/or illustrate events. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures! I also had a timeline in my room. Last year I have my room decorated with pictures/word wall images in eras making a giant, more abstract timeline.  I think it is extremely important to help students see their place in time and make cause and effect relationships. Making time for timelines is an integral part of Social Studies instruction. I talk more about timelines in my Setting Up English Language Learners for Success Guidebook!

Naturally after the fact, when I was thinking about this post I came up with an acronym for TIMELINE. I posted it as a freebie product in my store! I hope this will be super helpful for students to remember the components! Here is the link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/TIMELINE-Acrostic-2143687

TimelineAcrosticFreebieSSW