My Life Timeline

Overview

In this second lesson of the “Exploring Personal Histories” unit, students sequence familiar events from their own lives and represent them on a simple pictorial timeline. They build on prior discussions about personal and family experiences by identifying events that are important to them, such as birthdays, starting school or a special family celebration.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• understand that a timeline shows events in the order they happened
• identify significant events or milestones in their own lives
• sort events from earliest to most recent
• record events using drawings, pictures and simple labels

Success criteria

• I can talk about an important event in my life.
• I can put my events in the order they happened.
• I can draw or label each event.
• I can show which event happened first and which happened most recently.

Curriculum links

• Sorting and recording information using pictorial timelines and locations on pictorial maps or models.
• Collecting, sorting and recording information from observations and provided sources, including unscaled timelines and labelled maps or models.
• Developing understanding of continuity and change in aspects of children’s daily lives and their parents’ and grandparents’ childhoods.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Welcome and connection. Open with the opening question and timeline image. Display the question, “What is something you remember from when you were younger?” Students think quietly, then share an event with a partner or with the teacher. Explain that this is lesson 2 and today they will make a timeline about their own life.

2. 5–12 min · Explicit teaching. Use the timeline teaching slides to show a simple pictorial timeline with three events: baby, first birthday and starting school. Explain that timelines show events in time order, from long ago or earliest to now or most recent. Model using the words “first”, “next”, “then” and “now”. Ask students to identify which event happened first and which happened last.

3. 12–18 min · Shared sorting activity. Show the class sorting example and present four familiar event pictures or drawings, such as being a baby, a birthday, starting school and a family outing. Invite students to help place them in a sensible order. Think aloud: “I know starting school happened after I was a baby.” Students use actions or oral responses to show first, next and last, and explain their choices.

4. 18–23 min · Model the task. Display the worksheet instructions and model and demonstrate completing one timeline box. Explain that students may include events that are special, enjoyable or important to them. They can draw, use provided picture prompts, or dictate words to an adult. Remind students that families and important events are different, and they only need to share information they feel comfortable sharing.

5. 23–37 min · Individual timeline creation. Distribute the personal pictorial timeline worksheet. Students choose three or four events and draw or record them in order, adding a short label or telling an adult what to write. Circulate and ask: “What happened first?”, “What happened next?” and “How do you know?” Support students to place an arrow or number on each event.

6. 37–42 min · Partner sharing. Return to the partner-sharing prompts. Students show their timeline to a partner, if comfortable, and explain one event using the sentence stem, “First…, then…, and now…”. Partners listen and identify one event that came first and one that came later. Students may share with the teacher instead of a peer.

7. 42–45 min · Plenary and check. Use the final reflection slide to revisit the learning intention. Students hold up one finger if they can identify the first event on their timeline, two fingers if they can identify the most recent event, and three fingers if they can explain the order. Invite two or three students to share an example.

Resources

• the personal timelines slide deck
• the personal pictorial timeline worksheet
• Event picture prompts or teacher-drawn event cards
• Pencils, crayons and erasers
• Document camera or interactive whiteboard
• Optional adult scribing support
• Display space for completed timelines

Assessment

• During modelling and sorting, listen for students using time-order language such as “first”, “next” and “now”.
• Check each worksheet for three or four events represented in a logical sequence, with drawings, pictures or labels.
• During partner sharing, ask individual students to point to the earliest and most recent events and explain how they know.

Differentiation

• Provide picture prompts, numbered boxes, arrows and the sentence frame “First…, then…, now…”. Offer one-to-one support and scribing for students developing fine-motor, language or literacy skills.
• Allow students to draw, point, orally describe or use photographs rather than write independently.
• For EAL learners, pre-teach and gesture the words “first”, “next”, “then”, “before” and “now”; pair them with a supportive peer and accept home-language discussion.
• Students requiring additional challenge can include four events, add approximate ages or explain how one event led to another. Respect students who do not wish to share personal or family details by offering a fictional or classroom-based timeline.