Personal Timeline Activity

We are trying something new this year that I hope becomes a yearly tradition! I would love for students to share their personal timelines when we celebrate their birthdays with the Walk Around the Sun celebration that we traditionally do. Follow this link for more information about that:Walk Around the Sun. The document found in that entry would be exchanged for the personal timeline, but may still be used as a guide.

Timelines are used in the Montessori classroom extensively in the cultural and cosmic curriculum, first seen in the Great Lessons. This preparatory activity of creating their personal timeline readies the students to work with the extensive timelines that are presented throughout elementary.

Example of a personal timeline. It does not have to look like this! 

Personal Timeline:

1. A time line can be as short as one page or as long as a wall.

2. To make a short time line, draw a vertical line down the middle of a sheet of paper.

3. Write your child’s birth date on the left side of the line at the top of the page. On the right side of the line, write the corresponding event. (“I was born!”)

4. Add other important dates and events, such as when your child started to walk and talk, when siblings were born, when your child started preschool, when you took family trips, and so on, in chronological order.

5. To make a long time line, cut a length of paper from a large roll or tape several sheets of paper together. Draw a horizontal line across the middle of the banner.

6. Write the dates and events of your child’s life from left to right.

7. Glue on photos or let your child illustrate each event.