Putting events on a timeline
History · Key Stage 1 · The School
A line for time
A TIMELINE is a line. The earliest thing goes at one end. The most recent goes at the other. Putting events on it shows their ORDER. It also shows the GAPS between them. A list cannot do that. Two events close together on a timeline really did happen close together.
Words for how long ago
History needs words for distance in time. TODAY. YESTERDAY. LAST WEEK. LAST YEAR. WHEN I WAS LITTLE. WHEN GRANDMA WAS LITTLE. LONG AGO. A VERY LONG TIME AGO. It is fine to use them roughly at first. The point is to know that some things are much further back than others.
Living memory
Some things happened WITHIN LIVING MEMORY. That means someone alive today remembers them. They can tell you about it. Other things happened BEYOND living memory. Nobody alive now was there. So we depend on what was written down, or on what was left behind. That difference decides how we can find out about it.
Mark these on a line. The Great Fire in 1666. The first steam railway in 1825. The first Moon landing in 1969. And today. Draw the line from 1600 to 2030. The gaps are 159 years, then 144 years, then 57. You can see that the last gap is the shortest. Now draw it again from 1900 to 2030. Three of the four events do not even fit. Same events, but the second line tells a completely different story. The SCALE changed.