LESSON 1

Lesson title: Introducing Timelines

Grade/age level: Third Grade
Learning Objective(s)
What do you want students
to know, understand, or be
able to do as a result of this
lesson?

Students will be able to define essential vocabulary including timeline,

important event, and chronological order
Students will understand how to use a timeline
Students will pick out the most important events in a subjects life

Evidence for
assessment

This lesson only includes informal assessment. I will confer with students who I
think might need extra support. I will ask students to make a T-Chart that shows
Where will you look for signs
important events and less important events. I will review these charts to help
of student learning?
What will you look for?
me determine who may need support in small group for the next lesson. During the
What are your criteria?
lesson, I will also listen in to turn and talks and monitor group discussions to be
sure that students are accurately picking out the most relevant events for their
timelines. I will also review the worksheets that students filled out during the
lesson.
Standard(s)
Which Common Core State
Standard relates to this
objective?

RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain
how they support the main idea
Timelines will help students determine the big ideas of texts and how they
contribute to the main accomplishments of the character.

Learning Experience

Assessment

In each section below, specify the sequence of instructional activities.

Consider how you will manage materials, bodies, and time. Use small
boxes to indicate time.

What will you look/listen to/for?

Starting It

I will begin by talking about how much I will look to see that students body
have learned about biographies. I will language suggests that I have their
tell students that we know about
attention.
character traits, motives, and struggles.
We are so good at learning about the
subject of the biography, but sometimes
its hard to determine what events are
really important and what events are less
important in the persons life. When we
read biographies, there are a lot of
different facts that we learn about a
persons life. One tool we can use to
help us pick out the most important ideas
is a timeline.

How will you invite students

we
into the learning experience?

3 mins

Doing It
Outline your sequence of
instructional moves including
participation structures,
materials, intellectual
resources, and time allotted.
Is there a product or
performance you will be
expecting students to
create?

I will begin by asking students what they During the part on the rug, I will look to
think timelines are used for. I will ask see that students are engaged and
students to volunteer some answers to the participating. I will listen to students
question, What types of events go on a answers to my guiding questions to be
timeline? I will help guide students
sure that their answers are on track (for
towards understanding that it is only the example, Timelines include big events
most important events that end up on a of a persons life or Timelines organize
timeline. I will then ask students, When events in order). I will listen in on turn
we put events on a timeline, do we just and talks to see if students are able to
put them in any order? We will discuss. pick out which timeline tells us more
I will then reveal a chart that defines
important information. It is my hope that
timeline, chronological order and
students will be able to identify events
important event. There will also be
that are not very important in a subjects
criteria for important event that
life. As students fill out worksheets, I
includes: relates to family or childhood, will walk around to see that students are
relates to main accomplishment, or
circling the events appropriately. I will
relates to subjects impact. We will
review these worksheets after the lesson.
review this chart and have a brief
I will also give students the opportunity
discussion. Then I will put two timelines to share why they circled the events that
of Martin Luther King Jr.s life up on the they did. This will help me understand
Elmo projector. One timeline will have students thinking better about what
important events such as the Montgomery makes an important event.
Bus Boycott and winning the Nobel
Peace Prize. The other timeline will have
events that are less significant such as
During independent reading, I will confer
changing his name to Martin and joining with students to see that they are
a church choir. Students will turn and
understanding how to pick out only the
talk to discuss which timeline has more big ideas. I will review reading notes,
relevant information. I will ask questions and I will give students feedback to help
such as, Which timeline has events that guide their reading. Based on my
relate more to MLKs big
findings during conferences, I will form
accomplishments? and Which timeline small groups for tomorrows lesson.
seems to have information that is
irrelevant? We will discuss as a group
why one timeline might be better than the
other. I will then give pairs a worksheet
with a list of events in Shaun Whites
(the Olympic athlete) life. Students will
circle events that they feel should end up

on a timeline. I will remind students that

it is important for big events to relate to
Whites main accomplishment of being
an Olympic Snowboarder. I will model
how to make a chart of important and
less important events in our readers
notebooks. Then, students will be sent
off to read and take notes, being sure to
note the big ideas that could end up on a
timeline.
35 mins

Finishing It
How will you bring students
to closure with this learning
experience and connect it to
future learning?

At the end of the lesson, I will call

students back to the rug. During reading
time, I will have asked one student to
volunteer to share his/her list with the
class. We will review why the ideas
he/she wrote down are big ideas that
could fall on a timeline. We will then
discuss the question, How do timelines
help us organize the information we read
in biographies?

I will monitor how students answer the

final question and analyze the students
timeline. If there appears to be confusion
(for example if students cant articulate
why he/she chose these events) I will
modify the lesson for tomorrow to review
todays lesson more deeply.

7 mins

Accessibility

Whole class: Timelines projected on the Elmo will help visual learners see the

What accessibility and

information. The hands-on activity in which students circle the big ideas and cross
participation challenges have
out the smaller ideas with partners will help students interactively gain an
you taken into account and
understanding of what a big idea is. It will also give them a chance to argue with
how have you addressed
them? (material and human peers about differences of opinion, which will ultimately help deepen
resources, sequence of
understanding. Reading time will allow students to work independently with the
instruction)
possibility of one-on-one teacher conferences.

Groups of students with similar needs: For this first lesson, I plan to let students
work independently, without pulling small groups, so that I can get a sense of
students needs. I will provide a range of leveled texts so that children will be
reading biographies at an appropriate reading level.
Individual students: This lesson will include visual aids, the definition of
vocabulary words, and partner work to aid the students with language processing
difficulties. The guided practice component includes hands on work for students
who struggle with sustained attention. Struggling readers will be provided with
appropriate leveled texts.

Materials Needed

Biographies, Elmo Projector, Timelines, Worksheet, Easel/Chart Paper, Readers

Notebooks

LESSON 2
Lesson title: Ordering Events on a Timeline
Grade/age level: Third Grade
Learning Objective(s)
What do you want students
to know, understand, or be
able to do as a result of this
lesson?

Students will practice taking notes on a biography in the form of a timeline

Students will place important events in chronological order on a timeline
Students will start to think about the relationship of events in a subjects life

Evidence for
assessment

This lesson only includes informal assessment. I will confer with students and ask
students to fill out timeline templates. I will review students initial attempt at
Where will you look for signs
filling in timelines to be sure that students understood the task. This will help me to
of student learning?
What will you look for?
form small groups for the following lesson. During the lesson, I will also listen in
What are your criteria?
to turn and talks and monitor group discussions to be sure that students are
accurately putting events in chronological order and understanding the relation of
events.
Standard(s)
Which Common Core State
Standard relates to this
objective?

RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain
how they support the main idea
Timelines will help students determine the big ideas of texts and how they
contribute to the main accomplishments of the character.
RI.3.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific
ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language
that pertains to time, sequence and cause/effect
As students review timelines, they will be able to see and describe the relationship
between the key events in the characters life.

Learning Experience

Assessment

In each section below, specify the sequence of instructional activities.

Consider how you will manage materials, bodies, and time. Use small
boxes to indicate time.

What will you look/listen to/for?

Starting It

I will look to see whether students

absorbed the vocabulary word
chronological order based on their
responses to my questions.

I will explain to students, Yesterday we

really hard and pulled lots of big
ideas from our biographies. We
distinguished between important events
and events that are less important.
Today, we need to finish our timelines. I
want us to think about the special c
word that we talked about yesterday.
Who remembers what that word is?

How will you invite students

worked
into the learning experience?

3 mins

Doing It
Outline your sequence of
instructional moves including
participation structures,
materials, intellectual
resources, and time allotted.
Is there a product or
performance you will be
expecting students to
create?

I will start by having a conversation with During the part on the rug, I will look to
the students about what chronological
see that students are engaged and
order means. We will review the word participating. I will listen to students
on the Timeline Chart. I will then ask
answers to my guiding questions to be
students to turn and talk about why
chronological order is important. I will sure that their answers are on track (for
example, timelines need to be in order
talk about how when we read, we can
write down ideas in chronological order. based on when the events happened). I
I will ask, What happens if an event
will watch as students sort the events and
doesnt have a specific year? How will see if students can make the connection
we know where it goes on the timeline? that certain events couldnt have
Students will briefly discuss. I will then
happened unless other events happened
talk about how we can know about the
first.
relation of events. I will explain that
some events need to happen before other
events. I will point out that some events
might even cause other events. For
example, what if we read about Jackie
Robinson. If the book said he joined the
Dodgers and also became the first
African American major league baseball
player, could we assume that one of these
events happened first? I will remind
students that its really important to think
about how the big events relate to one
another. After this discussion, I will give
each partnership slips of paper with
major events from Jackie Robinsons life
without dates. Students will be asked to
put the events in chronological order
based on the relation of events. I will
remind students to ask themselves,
Could this event have happened had
another event not happened first? After
students have worked together to figure it
out, we will discuss how they did so. I
will then model how we can take notes in
the form of a timeline, thinking about the
relationship of important events. I will
do this based on the list of important
events from Jackie Robinsons life. I will
model how to take a list of events and put
it into the form of a timeline. I will also
encourage students to try to add new
events to their timelines as they read. I
will hand out a template on which

students can take their notes. I will then

send students off to their tables to
practice taking notes in the form of a
timeline as they read.
As students work, I will work with a
I will assess the small group I work with
small group who still needs help with
to see that they better understand how to
determining big ideas. Students will
work together to determine which events pick out the big ideas of a biography. I
on their timeline might not be as
will look to see that irrelevant events
important as others. I will provide
such as pets and small hobbies are not
support, but it is my hope that through the listed on timelines. If my assessment
use of the chart and peer support that
helps me see they are ready, I will also
students will be able to make revisions on
help them work on putting their events in
their own.
order.
The rest of the group will work
independently on their timelines. If it
seems like students need group support, I During conferences, I will review
may ask students to work in their book timelines to see that students are
clubs to create timelines together.
accurately filling them out with relevant
events in chronological order.

35 mins

Finishing It
How will you bring students
to closure with this learning
experience and connect it to
future learning?

I will ask one or two students to share

their timelines. I will ask how they
decided to put their events in the order
they did. I will then ask what they notice
about how events might cause other
events. How does putting events in
chronological order help us understand
more about the events in the main
characters life?

I will monitor how students answer the

final question and analyze the students
timeline. It is my hope that students will
be able to answer that timelines help us
see how some events may cause other
events and may lead to the main
accomplishment of the subject.

7 mins

Accessibility

Whole class: The hands-on activity in which students put the big events in
gain an understanding for what
will help break down the
concepts for students with language processing difficulties. Reading time will

What accessibility and

chronological order will help students interactively
participation challenges have
a big idea is. Turn and talks and group discussions
you taken into account and

how have you addressed

them? (material and human
resources, sequence of
instruction)

allow students to work independently with the possibility of meeting in a small

group with a teacher.
Groups of students with similar needs: For this lesson I plan on working with a
small group that is still struggling with the main idea from yesterdays lesson. I
want students to be actively engaged and to feel like they have something of value
to offer to the group, so students will be working together to make changes to their
own timelines with minimal help from the teacher.
Individual students: This lesson will include visual aids, the definition of
vocabulary words, and partner work to aid the students with language processing
difficulties. The guided practice component includes hands on work for students
who struggle with sustained attention. Struggling readers will be provided with
appropriate leveled texts.

Materials Needed

pieces of paper with big events of Jackie Robinsons life, leveled biographies,
easel/chart paper, readers notebooks, timeline chart, timeline template

LESSON 3
Lesson title: Creating Timelines
Grade/age level: Third Grade
Learning Objective(s)
What do you want students
to know, understand, or be
able to do as a result of this
lesson?

Students will create timelines that include important events in chronological

order
Students will teach peers about the subject of their biography

Evidence for
assessment

This lesson includes informal and formal assessment. I will confer with groups of
students to see that they are making informative timelines about which they can
Where will you look for signs
speak and write. I will also monitor group discussions to be sure that students are
of student learning?
What will you look for?
realizing the importance of using a timeline to organize and teach information. I
What are your criteria?
will administer a formal assessment at the end of the lesson to see if students have
made progress throughout this learning segment.
Standard(s)
Which Common Core State
Standard relates to this
objective?

RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain
how they support the main idea
Timelines will help students determine the big ideas of texts and how they
contribute to the main accomplishments of the character.
RI.3.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific
ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language
that pertains to time, sequence and cause/effect
As students review timelines, they will be able to see the relationship between the
key events in the characters life.

Learning Experience

Assessment

In each section below, specify the sequence of instructional activities.

Consider how you will manage materials, bodies, and time. Use small
boxes to indicate time.

What will you look/listen to/for?

Starting It

I will introduce the lesson by explaining I will look to see that students are
students how much we know about
engaged.
timelines now. I will tell students that I
can tell that we are really understanding
how to use timelines to order the events
in a story and see how they relate. I will
tell them that today we are going to prove
our knowledge and create timelines to
share with our classmates to teach them
about our biographies.

How will you invite students

to
into the learning experience?

3 mins

Doing It
Outline your sequence of
instructional moves including
participation structures,
materials, intellectual
resources, and time allotted.
Is there a product or
performance you will be
expecting students to
create?

To get started, I will review any common

mistakes or misunderstandings with the
I will walk around the classroom as
class. This could potentially include
vague statements on the timelines rather students are creating their timelines. I
will meet with each group and assess the
than specific events, events that dont
following:
relate to the subject, or events that are
unimportant. I will explain that today we
- Is everyone participating?
are going to take all of the information
- Are the students picking out
we have collected in our notes the past
relevant events?
two days, and we are going to make final
copies of a timeline to share with the
- Are the events in chronological
class. I will hand out templates to
order?
children who want them but I will also
give students the choice to work without
- Are the students making
a template. Students will work
connections between the events?
independently to create timelines. I will
model how to create a timeline in my
notes. I will then send students off to
As students share their timelines, I will
work for a period of time. When it seems
look to see that students are critically
students have finished, I will invite
looking at each others timelines. It is
students back to the rug. Students will
my hope that students will be able to help
join small groups and share their
each other learn how to fine-tune their
timelines. I will remind students to give
timelines even more.
each other constructive feedback that
includes at least one compliment and at
least one thing the person could change
or improve.
30 mins

Finishing It
How will you bring students
to closure with this learning
experience and connect it to
future learning?

After students have shared, I will ask

How does making timelines help us
teach others about the subject of our
biography? How do timelines help us
better understand our biographies?
After presentations, students will take a
formal assessment.

I will listen to students reflections to see

if they really understood the main idea.
It is my hope that students will
acknowledge that timelines helped them
think of the text in a different way.
Hopefully students will mention that it
helped them see the relationship of
events.
The formal assessment is looking to see
that students can identify important ideas
and understand their relationship. I will

12 mins

review the formal assessment to gauge

the overall success of the learning
segment.
Accessibility

Whole class: This hands-on activity in which students actually create timelines and

What accessibility and

present them will help students interactively gain an understanding for what a
participation challenges have
timeline is, how it can help people learn, and how it can help us teach others. The
you taken into account and
presentation component will allow students to verbally express what they have
how have you addressed
them? (material and human learned.
resources, sequence of
instruction)
Groups of students with similar needs: For this lesson, students will share their

timelines in a group that is not determined by skills. Therefore, students will

receive feedback from a wide variety of perspectives and abilities.
Individual students: This lesson will include visual aids, the definition of
vocabulary words on the chart, and group work to aid the students with language
processing difficulties. The lesson primarily involves hands on work for students
who struggle with sustained attention. Struggling readers will be provided with
appropriate leveled texts. Students will be provided with a template to help
organize their thoughts.
Materials Needed

Templates, biographies, easel, paper, Timeline Chart, readers notebook