B.C.-A.D. Personal Timeline

Suggested Grades

5+

Objective

Students will gain a beter understanding of the concepts "B.C." and "A.D." creating a timeline of their lives using the terms "B.M." (before me) and "A.B." (after birth).

Materials

• roll of butcher paper, as long as you would like the time lines to be
• markers
• rulers
• pencils

Method

• Draw a line across the roll of paper about half way up from the bottom edge.
• Mark off an equal number of cetimetres per year through the length of the line.
• Write out a list of personal events that they would like to label on their timeline,
• About 1/4 of the way in put in a mark and identify it as their birthdate.
• Continue by labelling in all of the personal events that they were able to come up with.
• Ask students to interview someone to come up with a list of major family events that occurred before the student was born.
• Enter these events onto the timeline.
• Above these events enter at least 10 major world events that occurred before and after their birth.
• Label all the years with either "B.M" or "A.B".