Time Marches On

Time Marches On



The stories of history have beginnings, middles, and ends
that show events, and suggest causes and effects. A personal
timeline helps your child picture these elements of story.


What you'll need


Paper for timeline
Colored pencils
Crayons
Shelf paper or computer paper
Removable tape
History log (optional)



What to do


1. Draw on a piece of paper, or in the history log, a
vertical line for the timeline. Mark this line in even
intervals for each year of your child's life.

2. Help your child label the years with significant events,
starting with your child's birthday.

3. Review the timeline. Your child may want to erase and
change an event for a particular year to include a more
memorable or important one. (Historians also rethink their
choices when they study history.)

4. For a timeline poster, use a long roll of shelf paper or
computer paper. For a horizontal timeline, fasten it to
the wall up high around the room using removable tape so
that your child can take it down to add more events or
drawings. For a vertical timeline, hang it next to the
doorway in your child's room. Start with the birthday at
the bottom. Your child can begin writing down events and
add to it later.

5. For older children, have them do a timeline of what was
happening in the world at the same time as each event of
their life. To begin, they can use the library's
collection of newspapers to find and record the headlines
for each of their birthdays.





What is the most significant event on the timeline? What
effects did the event have on your child's life? What are the
connections between the events in your child's life and world
events at the time?



Weave a Web



A history web is a way of connecting people and events. Is
there an old ball field in your town you've always wondered
about? Or did you ever wonder why there are so many war
memorials in your town? Then you need to do a history web!


What you'll need


Large piece of paper or poster board (at least
3 1/2 x 2 1/2 ft.)
Colored pencils or markers
History log


What to do


1. Pick a place in your community that has always seemed
mysterious to you--an old ball field, general or hardware
store, house, or schoolhouse.

Or ask yourself. "What are there lots of in my town?"
Churches, fountains? Pick one of these historical
"families."

2. Go to one of these places. Jot down in your history log
what you see and hear there. For example, look for marks
on the buildings, such as dates and designs, or parts of
the buildings, such as bleachers or bell towers.

3. Find out other information about the place by asking a
librarian for resources, or by searching the archives of
your local newspaper. Look for major events that took
place there, such as the setting of a world record or the
visit of a famous person. Also look for other events that
changed the place, such as modernization or dedications.

4. Find people who have lived in your town a long time.
Interview them using questions about these major and
related events, and any others they remember.

5. Draw a web, with the name of the place you studied in the
middle (like the spider who weaves a "home").

6. Draw several strands from the middle to show the major
events in the life of the place.

7. Connect the strands with cross lines to show other related
events.

8. When the web is complete consider the relationships among
the strands. (See parent box.)

9. Ask the editor of your local newspaper to publish your
web. Ask readers to contribute more information to add to
it. This is exactly how history is written!



When was the place you picked built? If you picked a
"family" of places, when was each place built? If they were
built around the same time, what similarities and differences
do you notice about their features, such as style and what they
commemorate? How is the place you picked connected to other
events in history?



Put Time in a Bottle



Collecting things from one's lifetime and putting them in
a time capsule is a history lesson that will never be
forgotten.


What you'll need


Magazines or newspapers with pictures
Sealable container
Tape or other sealant
History log


Lift up your eyes upon
This day breaking for
Give birth again
To the dream.

Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands,
Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts...

Excerpted from "On the Pulse of Morning", delivered by Maya
Angelou at the 1993 Presidential Inauguration.


What to do


1. Have your children collect pictures of a few important
things from their life to date.

2. Tell your children that the items will be put in a time
capsule so that when future generations find it they can
learn something about your children and their time.

Some things to collect that represent the life and times
of a period are games and toys, new technology, means of
transportation, slang, movies, presidential campaign
memorabilia, great speeches, poetry and fiction, music,
heroes, advertising, events, television shows, fashions,
and accounts of issues and crises.

Also have them include a letter describing life today to
the person who opens the time capsule.

3. Meet together for a "show and tell" of the items.

4. Once everyone is satisfied with the collection, label the
items by name and with any other information that will
help those who find them understand how they are
significant to the history of our time.

5. Place the items in a container, seal the container, and
find a place to store it.

6. Write in the history log a short description of the time
period and record the location of the time capsule.







What did, the collection of items tell about the period?
Did the items tend to be of a certain type?


Quill Pens & Berry Ink


Knowing how to write has been a valued skill throughout
history. History itself depends on writing, and writing has
changed over time from scratches on clay to computerized
letters.



What you'll need


For quill pen:

feather, scissors, a paper clip

For berry ink:

1/2 cup of ripe berries, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon
vinegar, food strainer, bowl, wooden spoon, small jar with
tight-fitting lid

Paper
Paper towel
History log


What to do


1. Make the ink: Collect some berries for your ink. Consider
what color you want your ink to be, and what berries are
available. Blueberries, cherries, blackberries,
strawberries, or raspberries work well. Fill the strainer
with berries and hold it over the bowl. Crush the berries
against the strainer with the wooden spoon so that the
berry juice drips into the bowl. When all the juice is out
of the berries, throw the pulp away. Add the salt and
vinegar to the berry juice and stir well. If the ink is
too thick, add a teaspoon or two of water, but don't add
too much or you'll lose the color. Store the ink in a
small jar with a tight-fitting lid. Make only as much as
you think you will use at one time, because it will dry up
quickly.

2. Make the pen: Find a feather. Form the pen point by
cutting the fat end of the quill on an angle, curving the
cut slightly. A good pair of scissors is safer than a
knife. Clean out the inside of the quill so that the ink
will flow to the point. Use the end of a paper clip if
needed. You may want to cut a center slit in the point;
however, if you press too hard on the pen when you write,
it may split.

3. Write with the pen: Dip just the tip of the pen in the
ink, and keep a paper towel handy to use as an ink
blotter. Experiment by drawing lines, curves, and single
letters, and by holding the pen at different angles. Most
people press too hard or stop too long in one spot.

4. Practice signing your name, John Hancock style, with the
early American letters shown here. Then write your
signature in your history log.

5. Write your name again using a pen or pencil. Compare the
results.







Why do write? When do people in your family use writing?
What written things do you see every day? What is their
purpose? What effect do different writing implements have on
writing, for example quill pens, ballpoint pens, typewriters,
and computers?