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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Welcome to My World!: Developing a Personal Narrative Timeline

Students will create digital, narrative, and drawn versions of a timeline of at least five events of their life.

A lesson plan for grades 1–3 English Language Arts

By DPI Integration Strategies

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

  • collect or draw pictures of at least five important events in their lives to create an autobiography.
  • organize data in a drawn timeline.
  • write and edit narrative paragraphs with detailed information based on those five events.
  • be given examples to show the difference between linear and nonlinear presentations.
  • take pictures/drawings and narratives and place them into a slide show.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

8 Hours

Materials/resources

Pictures and/or drawings of at least five events (students and teacher).
Paper and pencils.

Technology resources

  • Computer
  • Camera (digital or film)
  • Scanner
  • Word Processing software such as Microsoft Works.
  • Multimedia/Drawing Software such as Kid Pix or Hyperstudio.

Pre-activities

Students will collect or draw pictures of at least five events in their life.

Activities

Modeling/Demonstration

  1. Discuss timelines and their style of organization. Show students cards with sequence/time words: First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Last (or for younger children: First, Next, Last for a sequence of 3 photos).
  2. Show students the pictures from your life. Arrange pictures in an incorrect sequence. For example, put baby photos near the end and adult photos near the beginning. Ask students to help you arrange the photos in the correct order.
  3. Match the photos to the correct time words from step 1.
  4. Draw a timeline on a strip of paper marking the events in the appropriate order. Place the timeline under the photos.

Independent Practice

  1. Have students arrange their personal photos in the correct time order. Give each student a strip of paper to mark the events in the correct order. Place the timeline under the photos.
  2. For each main event, have students write a short narrative about each event. These narratives can be written over the course of a week during daily writing time. Remind students to include time words in their sentences.
  3. Have students read and edit their drafts. (This can be done either in the classroom or at the computer using word processing software.)
  4. Using slide show software, such as Clarisworks, Microsoft Works, Kid Pix, or Hyperstudio, students will either type or paste in narratives about their important events and insert pictures that relate to them. (The pictures may be scanned images or drawn representations of the event.)

Assessment

Viewing of a completed slide show. Have students check for correct time order and use of time words.

Supplemental information

None

Related websites

N/A

Comments

Cindy Deal and Yvonne Coley are K-5 Technology Specialists from the Rowan/Salisbury School System.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 1

  • Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
    • Objective 4.06: Compose a variety of products (e.g., stories, journal entries, letters, response logs, simple poems, oral retellings).

Grade 2

  • Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
    • Objective 4.08: Write structured, informative presentations and narratives when given help with organization.

Grade 3

  • Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
    • Objective 4.02: Use oral and written language to:
      • present information in a sequenced, logical manner.
      • discuss.
      • sustain conversation on a topic.
      • share information and ideas.
      • recount or narrate.
      • answer open-ended questions.
      • report information on a topic.
      • explain own learning.