Time Line of Humans

After the Time Line of Life shrinks human history to a sliver, the Time Line of Humans expands that sliver into its own story. The child places the invention of writing, the first farms, the first cities, and sees how recent it all is.

• Framework: Montessori
• Unit: Cultural Studies
• Learning area: History
• Level: Ages 6-8

Objectives

• See the sweep of human history on a scaled timeline
• Identify major periods: early humans, agriculture, civilizations, industrial age
• Connect to the Third Great Lesson and Fundamental Needs
• Understand the brevity of recorded history

Materials

• The Time Line of Humans (scroll or wall timeline)
• Control chart
• Small cards of key events and inventions to place
• Reference books on prehistory and early civilizations

Instructions

1. Unroll the timeline on a long hallway or wall. 2. Identify the major periods: Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Classical, Middle Ages, Modern. 3. Discuss the shift from hunter-gatherer to agriculture. 4. Place cards of key events: first fire use, cave paintings, invention of the wheel, writing, agriculture, domestication. 5. Connect to the Fundamental Needs framework. 6. Add cards as new research emerges. 7. Discuss scale: recorded history is ~5,000 years of ~200,000 years of Homo sapiens. 8. Research a period in depth. 9. Present findings.

Educator tip

Use a scaled timeline: the Paleolithic covers most of the scroll, the modern era a thumb's width. Scale is the lesson.

Assessment

Note accurate placement of events, growing facility with periods, and independent research into eras.

More from Cultural Studies

• Work of Water — Erosion Experiments
• Biomes of the World
• Fourth Great Lesson: The Story of Writing
• Fifth Great Lesson: The Story of Numbers
• Music — Tone Bars and Scales
• Economic Geography — Where Things Come From
• Going Out — Independent Research Project
• Peace Rose — Conflict Resolution