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Home › Classroom Resources › Lesson Plans
Lesson Plan
Biographies: Creating Timelines of a Life
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| Grades | 3 – 5 |
| Lesson Plan Type | Standard Lesson |
| Estimated Time | Three 40-minute sessions |
| Lesson Author |
Seattle, Washington |
| Publisher |
MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY
- Biography text sets, created using the provided Websites
- Information on your personality of choice
- Strips of paper for timeline note taking (half a sheet of legal paper, 4.25"x14"), pens or pencils) optional instead of Interactive Timeline)
- Internet access
STUDENT INTERACTIVES
Grades K – 12 | Student Interactive | Organizing & Summarizing
Students can generate descriptive timelines that can be plotted with their choice of units of measure (date, time, event, entry, or other).
PRINTOUTS
Biography Selection & Rationale
WEBSITES
PREPARATION
- Review the written lesson and suggested links. Gather sufficient materials to introduce the lesson—ideally 3-4 information resources for up to six personalities, to include 1) biographies written at the 2nd-5th grade level, preferably including numerous pictures and charts, 2) video tapes, and 3) Web resources. Potential personalities include famous presidents [Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy], inventors [Franklin, George Washington Carver, Madame C.J. Walker], scientists [Marie Curie, Edwin Hubble, Samuel Lee Kountz, Jr.], space explorers [Neil Armstrong, Sally Ride, John Glenn], or athletes [Jim Thorpe, Ichiro Suzuki, Lance Armstrong]. This initial selection must often be limited to personalities for whom you can locate multiple resources, but should include a range of ages, gender, cultures, occupations, and historical and modern day figures.
- Review use of the Interactive Timeline.
- Conduct a short inquiry of your own on a personality of interest as a means of introducing the lesson. Amelia Earhart is one personality for whom you are likely to find disparate information and various hypotheses regarding her disappearance. See The Last Flight Website for information and additional Web sources.

