MODULE 1 Chapter 3

Module 1 Chapter 3

Student Page

The Time Line---Making Time Make Sense

Hi Students!

The purpose of this activity is to help you learn how the past and the present are related. Yes, they really do fit together.

How old is "old?" "Old" has something to do with time. Would you and your parents agree on what is "old" or "old fashioned?" It may seem to you that you were a baby a long, long time ago. To your parents it seems like just a little while ago. Both you and your parents are thinking of the same number of years, but you each see those years in a different way. Why would your age have anything to do with how you think of time?

Understanding time is often a hard thing to do. For example, do you know when your mother and father were born? How about your grandparents? Of course each of them was born in a certain year, but do you know how those years fit together? A time line can help us see how events follow one after another. By building a time line, we can better understand the length of time between events and the order in which they happened.

This module explains how to create your own time line. On the time line you will be able to see how the history of your family and the history of Idaho fit together. Your time line can be built by the entire class, by a small committee, or by one person---or each person in the class can make his own.

If you need help to get started, you can look at one of the time lines shown in The Story of Idaho. You will find time lines on pages 52, 72, 92, 116, 134, 150, 190, and 208 of the Centennial Edition. Your time line will look different from these, however. Your time line will go across the paper instead of top to bottom.

HOW TO MAKE A TIME LINE

You will need:

1. Butcher paper (9 feet long and 1 foot wide)
2. Yard stick or meter stick
3. Soft-lead pencil
4. Felt-tip pen
5. Space (on a wall or bulletin board)

Procedure:

HOW TO MAKE YOUR TIME LINE

1. Special Note: Use the pencil for all drawing and lettering so that mistakes can be erased easily. Check your work for misspellings and other mistakes. Erase all stray pencil marks. Once all your drawing and lettering is finished, trace over the pencil work with the felt-tipped pen.

2. Cut the butcher paper 9-1/2 feet long and 12 inches wide. It should be cut neatly with straight edges and square corners.

3. Use a yard stick to draw a line the full length of the paper. It should be drawn down the center so that there is 6 inches of paper on each side of the line.

4. Face the paper so that it runs from left to right. The long line you have drawn will be horizontal in front of you. Now measure 2 inches from the left end of the horizontal line and draw a 2-inch vertical line. The new line should begin 1 inch above the horizontal line and reach 1 inch below it. This first vertical line represents the year 1490.

5. Measure 2 inches to the right of the first vertical line and draw a 6-inch vertical line. This line should extend 3 inches above the horizontal line and 3 inches below it. It represents the year 1500.

6. Now draw another 6-inch vertical line every 20 inches along the horizontal line. These lines represent the years 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, and 2000. Measure 10 inches beyond 2000 and draw a 3-inch vertical line. This line represents the year 2050.

7. Draw a 2-inch vertical line (like the first one) every 2 inches between the 6-inch lines and continue to the year 2050. Each of these lines represents 10 years.

8. Above each 6-inch vertical line, print the year. Begin with the year 1500 on the far left, and end with the year 2050 on the far right. The label the 3-inch line 2050. Do not label the 2-inch lines, because your time line would become too crowded. Mark and label the present year with a 4-inch vertical line. You will have to measure between the 10-year marks unless the present year falls on one of those marks. For example, 2001 will be located 1/10 of the distance between 2000 and 2010.

INQUIRY ACTIVITIES

SPECIAL NOTE. When you print the following events on your time line, alternate the events above and below the horizontal line to allow more space. It also helps to slant your lettering at a 45-degree angle away from the end of the 2-inch line. Locate and mark the following years on your time line:

1. The year you were born. (Yes, your birth is part of history. Use the average year if more than one student is making the time line.)
2. The year your mother and father were born (or the average year).
3. The year your grandmother and grandfather were born (or the average year).
4. The year your school was built.
5. The year Idaho became a state.
6. The year Idaho became a territory.
7. The year the first white men arrived in Idaho.
8. The year the United States was created through the Declaration of Independence.
9. The year Columbus discovered America. (Finally! We are back to the year 1492.)
10. Any other year(s) you wish to include.

THINKING ABOUT TIME AND EVENTS.

By now you should begin to see how events follow one after another in a certain order. You will soon see that each event depends upon something that happened at an earlier time. For example, you could not have been born (an important event) if your parents had not been born at an earlier time (another important event). So you will see that throughout the history of our state, each event depends upon something that happened at an earlier time.

USE YOUR TIME LINE. Each chapter will bring new events to your attention. Keep adding events to your time line as you learn more about the story of Idaho. Watch your time line grow. It will make history more fun, and it will add a great deal to your understanding.

HINT: If you have made your own time line, you can roll it into a scroll, put a rubber band around it, and keep it at your desk. That way, you can add to it whenever you want to. After all, what is more historic than a scroll? People had scrolls before they had books. The Bible was written on scrolls before it was made into the book we know today.

Top of page Student Module Menu Teacher Module Menu Home Page