Imagine your whole life drawn as one long line. At the start is the day you were born. Then come your first steps, your first words, and your first day of school. A line like this is called a timeline. It shows events in the order they happened.
Historians love timelines because they make the past easy to see. The oldest events go on the left, and the newest events go on the right. When we read a timeline from left to right, we travel through time!
Timelines can show a single day, one person's life, or thousands of years. Some events on history timelines happened so long ago that they came before your grandparents, before cars, and even before books were printed.
1. What is a timeline?
2. Where do the oldest events go on a timeline?
3. Why do historians like using timelines?
Number these events 1 to 5, from what happens FIRST to what happens LAST in a person's life.
| Event | Order (1–5) |
|---|---|
| Learning to read chapter books | |
| Being born | |
| Taking your very first steps | |
| Starting 2nd grade | |
| Saying your first word |
1. A shows events in the order they happened.
2. Things that happen are called .
3. The oldest events go on the side of a timeline.
4. The newest events go on the side of a timeline.
5. Timelines put the past in .
You need: a pencil and your memory (a grown-up can help).
Fill in the table with four big events from your life, in order from oldest to newest.
| When (your age) | What happened |
|---|---|
| Age 0 | I was born! |
1. What event on your timeline is your favorite? Why?
2. What event do you hope to add to your timeline in the future?
| I learned... | Circle one |
|---|---|
| What a timeline is | YES / NOT YET |
| How to put events in order | YES / NOT YET |