Intermediate

GRADE 4 LESSON PLAN

Lesson: The O'Reilly Family Timeline

Students practice making a timeline with milestones in their own life. They use the tool they have learned to create a timeline for one of the O'Reilly family members.

Prescribed Learning Outcomes

Society and Culture

It is expected that students will:

• Demonstrate understanding of timelines

Organization & Scheduling

Suggested time: 2-45 minute blocks, as well as a 10-minute discussion time the day before

Materials & Resources

• 4 or 5 milestones of each student's life that the student should collect/find out from home (ex: birth, first step, first lost tooth, accomplishment in sport or music, etc.)
• a blank piece of paper (non-lined) per student and a sharp pencil per student
• biography on one of the members of the OReilly family (Peter, Caroline, Kathleen, Frank, Jack, Mary)-this can be done either online with the class or the teacher can print each bio out and photocopy to hand out to class (only one biography per student)

Suggested Procedure

1. Before you start the class on their own personal timelines, spend 10 minutes the day before talking over as a class what things might be found on a timeline. Discuss things such as achievements, birth days, when they started walking, etc.). Assign the students to find out about at least 5 milestones they have had in their lives and write them down for the next class.

2. Each student should have brought 5 things for their own timeline. Next discuss with the class what 'sequence' means (putting things in order). Tell them that in the case of a timeline, the order is when they happened. The dates are important. Discuss how to put the dates from earliest to latest.

3. Give the students a blank piece of paper and have them draw a line in the middle of the page (lengthwise). A small line drawn through the long line should show each milestone.

4. Allow the students to put their milestones along the line with the date in brackets behind what happened. Have the students give their timeline a title just like they would a story. Have the students hand in their timelines.

5. Next class, hand each student a biography of an O'Reilly family member (don't allow them to choose). Get the students into groups according to what family member they have (same family members go together).

6. Have the groups read through their biographies together, either online or on paper.

7. Once the students have finished reading, have them pick out (individually) what they think are the 5 most important things that happened in that family member's life. Have them write it down on a scrap piece of paper or underline them/highlight them on their biography.

8. Review the purpose and of a timeline and how to make one. Tell the class to make the timeline by dates again.

9. Give the students a blank piece of paper and have them draw a line through like the one they did for their own timelines. Again, milestones should be marked as a small line drawn through the longer one.

10. Allow the students to create their timelines. Remind the students to give the timeline a title. Have the students hand in their timelines when they are done.

Possible Assessment

You may mark both of the timelines or just the final one on a member of the O'Reilly family. Keep in mind that the first one was a practice one and mark it accordingly. Mark the timelines according to the following criteria:

• 2 points each for identifying significant milestones in the life of the person (5 for a total of 10)
• 2 points for putting the milestones/dates in the right order (total of 2)
• total /12

Adaptations

Some classes may not work well in groups. It may be better to have each student read his/her biography of an O'Reilly family member on his/her own.

You could also have the students cut out the text from the biography for the milestones if it has been printed out instead of being read online. They can then glue it along the timeline instead of writing it in.

Extensions

Allow students who made a timeline on the same family member to get into groups. Have students compare milestones and put all timelines together in a longer timeline. Remind students that if they have identical answers, it only needs to be rewritten once. When the timelines are complete, put them up around the classroom.

If you want to make the timeline really big, combine all of the timelines from all of the family members into one long timeline. Again, put it up around the classroom.

Click here to download a printable version of this lesson.