My life timeline: a 30-minute 1st grade social studies activity
What it is: a 1st grade social studies activity where students make a timeline of 4 moments in their life, from being a baby to now, using drawings or family photos. Students learn that time can be shown in order on a line, the first step toward understanding history.
Time: about 30 minutes. Grade: 1st grade.
Materials: a long paper strip per student with 4 boxes, crayons, a family note asking for 2 or 3 facts (when the student first walked, a favorite memory), and copies of photos if families want to send them.
- Show your own timeline with 4 moments. Read it left to right: "First... then... later... now."
- Students list 4 moments with a partner: being a baby, learning to walk or ride a bike, starting school, now.
- They draw each moment in a box, in order, and write the age under it.
- Partners check each other's order: "Did this happen before or after that?"
- Students tell their timeline to a small group using the words before and after.
Safety: keep it gentle: students choose what to share, and any moment can be a happy one from school. Some students may not have baby photos, so drawings are always fine.
Differentiation: students who need support do 3 moments. Students who are ready add a fifth box for something they want to do in the future. English learners can use the words baby, then, now and the frame "When I was ___, I ___."
Quick check: point to two boxes on a student's timeline and ask which came first.
Save this activity to your library so it is ready when you need it.
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About this resource
- Shared by
- @UpOnlyLearning · Curriculum team
- Posted
- Oct 30, 2026
- Type
- Lesson plan
- Grade
- Grades K–2
- Subject
- Social studies
- Language
- English
- License
- Free for classroom, co-op and tutoring use. Please don't resell.