Read and Interpret a Timeline

by Sara Christ
I. Lesson plan Overview and Description
1. Expected duration: Two class periods (50-60 min each)
2. Social Sciences: History & Geography
3. Concepts: Timelines show events in the order in which they happen, from left
to right. Timelines are important because they can help us to organize
important events in history. We can create timelines of events in our own
lives as well as the lives of other people.
4. Vocabulary: Timeline, decade, century (defined below in content outline)
5. Skills: Read, interpret, and create a timeline
6. Broad Goals of Lesson: This lesson is designed to help children understand
the importance of timelines by reading, interpreting, and creating timelines of
their own. Students will build off of the knowledge they learned about Samuel
de Champlain in the previous lesson and use Champlains important life
events to organize and interpret a timeline.
II. Content Outline
A. What is a Timeline?
Timelines show events in the order they happened, from left to right.
o Events shown on the left end of a timeline happened before
events on the right
People who study history often look at timelines to organize important
events.
Timelines help you see how much time passed between events.
A timeline can be divided by years, decades, or even centuries
o A decade is a period of 10 years
o A century is 100 years
B. Timeline of Champlains Life
1567: Champlain was born in France
1598: Champlain began sailing with his uncle on long voyages,
sketching local plants and animals and taking notes to describe them
1603 (May): Champlains first voyage to the new world
1603 (August): Champlain set sail for France, made his report to King
Henry who was pleased with Champlains work
1604: The terrible winter (more than 30 men died)
1604: Champlain returned to New France with about eighty male
colonists
1608: Champlain returned to the St. Lawrence Valley with 32 colonists
and anchored at Quebec in July
1609 (July): Champlain and his men joined Native American warriors in
a raid against the Iroquois
1620: Champlain was named governor of New France
1629: Champlain and his men surrendered to the Kirke brothers from
England and became their prisoners (England and France were at war
with one another)

1632: territory was given back to the French after they repaid their
debt to England
1633: Champlain returned to Quebec
1635: Champlain died a month after suffering a stroke

III. Standards
1. PDE SAS Standards
a. 8.1.3.A. = 8. History. 1. Historical Analysis and Skills Development. 3 rd
grade. A. Identify the difference between past, present and future
using timelines and/or other graphic representations.
b. 8.4.3.D. = 8. History. 4. World History. 3rd grade. D. Identify conflict and
cooperation among groups and organizations from around the world.
2. PDE Common Core not applicable
3. NCSS Themes and Subthemes
a. II.B. = II. Time, Continuity, and Change. B. Demonstrate an ability to
use correctly vocabulary associated with time such as past, present,
future, and long ago; read and construct simple timelines.
b. IV.H. = IV. Individual Development and Identity. H. Work independently
and cooperatively to accomplish goals.
c. IX.B. = IX. Global Connections. B. Give examples of conflict,
cooperation and interdependence among individuals, groups, and
nations.
IV. Lesson Objectives
1.
Students will be able to use a variety of information resources to synthesize,
create, and communicate what they've learned on a timeline.
2.
Students will be able to correctly define terms related to time, including
decade and century.
3.
Students will be able to negotiate with peers to select key events.
4.
Students will be able to research further to resolve conflicting information.
V. Teaching Procedures
DAY 1
1. Anticipatory Set/Introduction
a. Have students begin creating a KWL chart by brainstorming what they
already know about the familiar historical figure, Samuel de
Champlain. Ask them:
i. Who was Samuel de Champlain?
ii. Why is he famous?
iii. When did he live?
Record students' responses on the board and have students make
notes in the Know column of their chart.
b. Once students have created a substantial list of their prior knowledge,
move to the Want to Know column. Encourage students' curiosity by
asking questions that focus on Champlains life:
i. What would you like to know about Samuel de Champlain?
ii. When and where was he born?
iii. When and where did he die?

iv. What was his family life like?

v. What were his accomplishments?
vi. Did he earn any titles or awards as a result of his explorations?
vii. Did he have any disappointments?
c. Have students make notes on their KWL chart as they brainstorm as a
class the things they would like to know about Columbus.
2. Lesson Input
a. Tell the students: Today we are going to use these KWL charts to help
guide our research about Samuel de Champlain. Tomorrow, we are
going to use what we know and what we have learned to create a
timeline of important events in Samuel de Champlains life. We are
going to spend one class period researching Samuel de Champlain,
and one class period creating our timelines.
b. Briefly introduce timelines so students have enough information about
them to conduct meaningful research of Champlains life events. Ask
students questions like:
i. What is a timeline?
ii. What does a timeline show?
iii. What kind of timelines have you already seen?
c. Tell the students:
i. Timelines show events in the order they happened, from left to
right.
ii. Events shown on the left end of a timeline happened before
events on the right.
iii. People who study history often look at timelines to organize
important events.
iv. Timelines help you see how much time passed between events.
d. Tell the students: Today we are going to be online explorers as we
search for information about the famous explorer, Samuel de
Champlain, to help us create a timeline of his life. We will use the
scavenger hunt PowerPoint on our class website to access websites
and gather information. In addition to your KWL chart, you'll use the
Guided Scavenger Hunt worksheet to take notes as you read through
the websites.
e. Hand out the online scavenger hunt worksheets.
f. Instruct children to access the class website (using laptops or
computers) and download the scavenger hunt PowerPoint presentation.
g. Tell students they may begin the scavenger hunt as soon as they have
downloaded the presentation.
h. Remind students that the worksheet will be collected at the end of the
class period.
3. Guided Practice
a. The remainder of the class period should be devoted to completing the
online scavenger hunt. Working in pairs, students visit the websites
listed on the PowerPoint presentation and take notes on their guided
scavenger hunt worksheet.

b. The teacher will walk around the room to monitor student progress and
ensure that they are on task. She will take note of any students who
are struggling or need support.
c. The teacher will check in with each pair periodically to see how the
students are doing with the task. The teacher will examine each
students work and provide praise, guidance, suggestions, prompts, or
help whenever needed.
4. Independent Practice
a. There is no additional independent practice (separate from guided
practice) in this lesson.
5. Differentiation
a. Students who need support will be given extra time to complete the
scavenger hunt (i.e. during center time, core extension, or similar).
They may also be provided with a simplified version of the guided
scavenger hunt worksheet.
b. Students who need to be challenged will complete the enrichment
activities at the end of the scavenger hunt PowerPoint presentation.
c. Further accommodations will be provided based on the individual
needs of the students in the classroom.
6. Closure
a. Have the students share out something new/interesting that they have
learned about Samuel de Champlain.
b. End the class period by commending the explorers (students) on their
hard work. Tell them that they will be using their findings from this
activity to create a timeline during the next class period.
DAY 2
1.
Anticipatory Set/Introduction
a. Spend a few minutes reviewing the lesson activities from Day 1. Look
back at the KWL chart to refresh students on what they already know
about Champlain and what they wanted to know. Encourage a
discussion on what it was like to explore the life of Samuel de
Champlain using the Internet. Answer any questions that students may
have.
b. Tell the students: Today you are going to get the chance to show how
much you have learned about Samuel de Champlain by creating a
timeline of his life. Remember how we talked about timelines
yesterday? Well, today were going to learn even more about timelines
so that you can become timeline masters.
2. Lesson Input
a. Review timeline information that students were given on Day 1. Ask
the students questions like:
i. Who remembers what a timeline is?
ii. Who remembers what timeline shows?
iii. Did you find any timelines during your research yesterday?
b. Remind the students:
i. Timelines show events in the order they happened, from left to
right.

ii. Events shown on the left end of a timeline happened before

events on the right
iii. People who study history often look at timelines to organize
important events.
iv. Timelines help you see how much time passed between events.
c. New information about timelines for Day 2:
i. A timeline can be divided by years, decades, or even centuries
1. A decade is a period of 10 years
2. A century is 100 years
ii. It is important to pay attention to how far we space out the
events on a timeline. We want it to be as accurate as possible to
that we have a good visual representation of how much time
passed between the events.
1. Draw example on board using poor spacing (ex: put a huge
space between 2000 and 2001 and then a tiny space
between 2001 and 2015). Ask the students: Do you see
any problems with the spacing on this timeline?
2. Draw example on board using proper spacing. (ex: each
year is spaced 1 foot apart). Ask students: Do you think
this timeline has better spacing?
d. Have students connect to the interactive timeline on ReadWriteThink
and follow these introductory instructions:
i. Enter "The Life and Times of Samuel de Champlain" as the Title.
ii. Enter your own name in the field By.
iii. Select "Date" from the drop-down menu for Unit of Measure.
iv. Click on "Next Entry" in the upper right-hand corner of the
screen to begin creating your timeline.
e. Instruct students to build a timeline made up of at least eight key
dates or events collected during their cyber scavenger hunt or taken in
their notes during the first lesson about Samuel de Champlain.
f. Students may work in pairs or small groups to collaborate and bounce
ideas off of each other, but each student much submit his or her own
timeline.
g. Remind students that they will need to save and print out their timeline
when they are finished working.
3. Guided Practice
a. Tell the students: We are going to plot the first event on the timeline
together so that we all know how to do it.
b. To get students started, model how to create a timeline entry using the
projector. Ask students what they think the first event on the timeline
should be (Champlains birth). Go through the steps of creating and
plotting the event on the timeline.
c. Tell students: It is up to you to decide which eight events to include on
your timeline. Remember, it is important to choose the key events of a
persons life. So, you want to think about the important places
Champlain went or the important things that he did. You may talk with
your classmates about this if you are not sure of an event.
4. Independent Practice
a. The remainder of the class period should be devoted to constructing
the rest of the timelines.

b. The teacher will walk around the room to monitor student progress and
ensure that they are on task. She will take note of any students who
are struggling or need support.
c. The teacher will check in with each student periodically to see how he
or she is doing with the task. The teacher will examine each students
work and provide praise, guidance, suggestions, prompts, or help
whenever needed.
5. Differentiation
a. Students who need support will be given extra time to complete the
timeline (i.e. during center time, core extension, or similar). They will
also be required to plot fewer events on their timeline (five instead of
eight). Depending on their needs, students may be provided with a
premade template on which to plot the events.
b. Students who need to be challenged will have the option of adding
more events to their timelines and/or writing a brief summary report of
Champlains life based on their timelines.
c. Further accommodations will be provided based on the individual
needs of the students in the classroom.
6. Closure
a. Invite the students to display their finished timelines around the
classroom if they feel comfortable doing so. Have students do a walkabout to see what their classmates have created. Give students a few
minutes to do this.
b. Have students return to their seats. Tell the students that they have
done so much during the past few days that you want to reflect on how
much they have learned. Ask the following questions:
i. Yesterday, we made KWL charts and conducted research on
Samuel de Champlain.
1. What problems did you run into during your research
yesterday?
2. Did you find conflicting information on the Internet?
3. How did you decide which information to use?
ii. We also did an online scavenger hunt yesterday.
1. Did you like learning about Samuel de Champlain that
way?
2. What did you learn during that activity?
iii. We used the information that we gathered during our research
yesterday to create our timelines today.
1. What are some of the things you learned about timelines?
2. What important things did you keep in mind when you
were creating your own timelines?
c. Tell the students that they should be very proud of the work that they
have done. End the class period by commending students on their hard
work exploring and reporting on the life of Samuel de Champlain.
d. Before transitioning to the next activity, give each student an index
card. First, ask the students to define the terms decade and century.
Then, ask the students to write their favorite part of the lesson from
either Day 1 or Day 2. Finally, ask them to write one challenge or
problem that they had during Day 1 or Day 2 of the lesson.

VI. Teacher and Student Resources and Evaluation

Resource Title Influence:
3+ Characteristics
or Website
Significant
suggesting that
Address
Influence (SI)
the source is a
or
quality resource,
Minor
reliable material
Influence (MI)
in informing
your thinking,
decisions
about the
lesson plan
http://www.read SI
1. Designed by a
writethink.org/cl
professional with a
assroommasters degree in
resources/lesson
curriculum and
instruction.
plans/cyberspac
2. Uses various
e-explorerresources to present
getting-knowmaterial.
126.html?
3. Information
tab=1#tabs
consistent with other
information found
during research.
http://www.read SI
1. From reputable
writethink.org/fil
website.
es/resources/int
2. Partners with
eractives/timelin
International Literacy
e_2/
Association and
National Council of
Teachers of English
3. Mission is to
provide educators,
parents, and
afterschool
professionals with
access to the highest
quality practices in
instruction
Houghton Mifflin MI
1. 100+ years of
Social Studies,
educational and
Grade 3,
trade publishing
Teachers
2. Books are used in
Edition, 2005.
many schools across
Chapter 4
the country
Communities in
3. Specializes in
History
dynamic learning
content for students,
teachers, and
parents.

of Resources
Accessibilit
y
Access for
teachers or
others

Free and
accessible
for teacher
and parents.

Free and
easily
accessible by
anyone. Easy
to follow for
students.

Accessible to
those who
have
purchased
the textbook.
The content
is generally
easy to
follow and
understand,
but there are

Overall
Rating and
Suggestions
for current,
future use
of resource

5/5. This is a
very valuable
resource. It
could be
easily
modified for
use when
studying
other people,
especially
other
explorers.
4/5. This
timeline
interactive is
great, but
there doesnt
seem to be a
way to make
the spacing
between
years
accurate.

4/5 (for
content on
timelines).
The book
provided a
decent
amount of
information
on timelines,
but could
have

some gaps.

provided
more. Would
use again as
a starting
point.

VII. Formative and Summative Assessment of Students

Lesson Objective 1: The teacher will be able to use the final product
(timeline) so that she can assess whether or not the student has met this
objective. Also, formative assessment data can be collected during the
research part of the lesson as well as during the process of creating the
timeline.
Lesson Objective 2: Students will complete an exit slip in which they must
define the terms decade and century in order to demonstrate mastery of
the terms.
Lesson Objective 3: The teacher will be able to determine whether or not
the student has met the objective by observing the students during their
work in pairs and by examining the final timeline that the students submit.
This provides the teacher with both formative and summative means of
evaluation.
Lesson Objective 4: Data related to this objective will be collected while
the students are working in pairs (formative). The teacher will check in
with each pair, ask about conflicting information, and observe how the
students resolve the issue, providing guidance if necessary. Talking to
students and observing them will provide valuable data about their
progress.
VIII. Technology/Materials/Equipment
Projector/SmartBoard
Computers with Internet access (one per student)
Classroom website/teacher page
Index cards (one per student)
Champlain Online Scavenger Hunt (via classroom website/teacher page)
Champlain Scavenger Hunt worksheet (one per student)
ReadWriteThink Interactive Timeline (via
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/timeline_2/)
IX. Reflection on Planning
This lesson is designed to give students practice with interpreting data and making
timelines while practicing using various computer resources. Students have the
opportunity to participate in an online scavenger hunt and then present their
findings using an online interactive timeline creator. Possible challenges include
students finishing at different times (enrichment activities have been provided to
help solve this problem). Another possible challenge is the technology itself.
Computers may or may not be available to all students and, if they are available,
may not always work as planned. This lesson is preceded by a lesson on the life and
adventures of Samuel de Champlain. It fits into a series of lessons on explorers. The
skills learned and practiced in this lesson will be valuable to students throughout
the remainder of the unit. In the future I might try to find a better interactive

timeline creator. The timeline website used in this lesson serves its basic intended
purpose, but I think that children would benefit from something a little more
customizable. Overall I am satisfied with how the lesson plan turned out and I think
it would be a fun way to integrate technology and history in the classroom.