Daily Time Lines

Age
6-9.

Materials

 * Strips of paper with a horizontal line.
 * Pages of current daily calendars of assorted sizes
 * Wide strips of heavy paper marked with spaces for pasting and writing.

Preparation
This is a group presentation.

Presentation

 * 1) Discuss passage of time and different ways of telling how time has passed.
 * 2) Show how making a mark on this line is one way we can tell the passage of time for one day and is perhaps how the ancient peoples kept track of their days.
 * 3) Make a mark each morning.
 * 4) Several days later: Chave the children count to see how many lines have been placed to represent number of days which have passed.
 * 5) Now a new line is set up to show units of days.
 * 6) A unit length is decided upon to show one day.
 * Now, because we know how big to make a day, we will keep this unit of time consistent.
 * 1) The size of units can be changed for a new week or at a given point.
 * 2) The children must understand that one unit stands for one period of time.
 * 3) The discussion goes on to the names of the days: today, yesterday and tomorrow.
 * 4) The date may also be discussed.
 * 5) The pages of a calendar are examined and compared with other calendar pages.
 * 6) One page signifies one day despite its size or shape.
 * 7) Today's page is pasted on the time line and an anecdote is written below.
 * 8) Several calendars may be started and used to record daily atmospheric temperature, school events or schedules.
 * 9) Each morning, one more page is pasted on.
 * 10) Several days later, compare calendars and remind them once again that the day is the same, but the unit for the different calendars is different.

Purpose

 * Direct aim: 
 * To understand the concept of a unit of time: One unit for a specific period of time.
 * To understand that within a time line, this unit must be consistent.
 * To learn the days of the week.

Indirect aim:


 * To prepare for the time lines of history where very small units equal centuries: this is a hierarchical representation which parallels math materials.