Introduction:

Timelines are a great teaching tool. It helps take some of the confusion out of history. History and the concept of time are abstract ideas to Elementary students. History is best understood when some background experience can be brought to the lesson. When the student is lacking this, they have a hard time grasping the concept of time, space and happenings. Add to this the idea that  events were going on simultaneously, and this makes for that dazed and confused student. History can be compared to a jigsaw puzzle. Ask students to put the pieces together and many would struggle.  By using a time line, the puzzle can be seen as a framework.

The Process:

Using the template from Kidspiration, students will divide their timeline into three equal parts, past, present, and future. The picture that is created helps students see how transportation has evolved, changed and even overlapped through time.

Objective:

1.1 The student will interpret information presented in picture time lines to show sequence of  events and will distinguish between past and present.

Sample:

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