Lesson Plan: My Personal Time & Place Scroll

Materials Needed:

• A long piece of paper (butcher paper or several sheets of paper taped together)
• Two empty paper towel rolls or small wooden dowels
• Markers, crayons, and colored pencils
• Family photographs of the student at different ages (or the student can draw pictures)
• Glue stick and child-safe scissors
• Tape
• String or ribbon
• Access to a globe or world map
• A printed map of your country, state/province, and city/town

IB PYP Framework Alignment

• Transdisciplinary Theme: Where We Are in Place and Time
• Central Idea: Our personal history connects us to a specific time and place.
• Key Concepts:
  • Form: What is a timeline? What does a map look like?
  • Connection: How do events in my life connect to each other and to the places I've lived?
  • Perspective: Why are certain events more important to me than to others?
• Lines of Inquiry:
  1. Exploring ways to organize events over time (timelines).
  2. Identifying significant personal events and where they happened.
  3. Creating a visual story of one's own life.
• Learner Profile Attributes: Thinker, Communicator
• Approaches to Learning (ATL) Skills: Research Skills (gathering information), Self-Management Skills (organization), Communication Skills (presenting work)

Lesson Activities: The Inquiry Cycle

Part 1: Tuning In (Sparking Curiosity - 15 minutes)

The goal here is to get the student thinking about their own past and how time passes.

1. Photo Exploration: Lay out several photos of the student from different ages (as a baby, a toddler, starting school, etc.).
2. Guiding Questions: Ask questions to provoke thinking:
   • "Which picture is of baby you? How do you know?"
   • "What do you remember about this day?" (Point to a specific photo)
   • "Do these pictures have an order? How could we arrange them to tell a story from beginning to now?"
3. Introduce the Big Idea: Say something like, "All these pictures tell the story of you. It's your personal history! Today, we're going to be historians and geographers by creating a special scroll that shows your story in both time and place."

Part 2: Finding Out (Gathering Information - 20 minutes)

The goal is to gather the "data" for our project: important events and locations.

1. Brainstorming Life Events: On a whiteboard or piece of paper, brainstorm a list of important events in the student's life. Help them along with prompts like:
   • When were you born?
   • When did you learn to walk/talk?
   • A memorable birthday or holiday.
   • The first day of school.
   • A special trip or vacation.
   • When you got a pet.
2. Connecting to Place: For each event, ask, "Where were we when this happened?" Use the globe and maps to locate the city, state, and country for each key event. This visually connects the "time" (the event) to the "place" (the location). For a 7-year-old, you can physically point from the globe, to the country map, to the city map to show the different scales.

Part 3: Sorting Out (Making Sense of It All - 15 minutes)

Now we organize the information chronologically before creating the final product.

1. Sequencing: Write each brainstormed event on a separate sticky note or small piece of paper.
2. Order the Events: Ask the student, "Which of these things happened first? What came next?" Work together to arrange the notes in chronological order on a table or the floor. This is a crucial step for understanding the concept of a timeline.
3. Select the "Greatest Hits": You may have many events. Let the student choose the 5-7 most important or favorite events to include on their final scroll. This gives them ownership and voice in the project.

Part 4: Going Further (Creative Application - 45 minutes)

This is the main, hands-on activity where the learning becomes a creative product.

1. Prepare the Scroll: Roll out the long piece of paper. Tape one end to a paper towel roll. Leave the other end free for now.
2. Draw the Timeline: Help the student draw a long line down the middle of the paper. This is the "river of time." Mark a starting point ("I was Born") and an ending point ("Today").
3. Add the Events: Using the sorted sticky notes as a guide, the student will now add their chosen events to the timeline in order. For each event, they should:
   • Draw a picture of the event or glue a photograph onto the timeline.
   • Write a short caption (e.g., "My 5th Birthday" or "Trip to the Beach").
   • Draw a small map or symbol to show where it happened. For example, next to the "Trip to the Beach," they could draw an outline of the state or country they visited.
4. Decorate: Encourage creativity! The student can decorate their scroll with colors, patterns, and stickers that represent them.
5. Finish the Scroll: Once everything is dry, tape the other end of the paper to the second paper towel roll. Now it can be rolled up like an ancient scroll! Tie it with a piece of ribbon or string.

Part 5: Making Conclusions & Taking Action (Sharing and Reflecting - 15 minutes)

The final step is to share the learning and think about what it means.

1. The Grand Unfurling: Have the student present their "Time & Place Scroll" to another family member. They should unroll it and explain each event, pointing out what happened and where it happened. This is a powerful act of communication.
2. Reflection Questions: After the presentation, ask a few questions to solidify the learning:
   • "What was your favorite part of making your scroll?"
   • "Looking at your scroll, what is one thing you learned about your own life story?"
   • "If you made a scroll for Grandma or Dad, how would it be different from yours?" (This touches on the Key Concept of Perspective).
   • "What is an event you are excited to add to your timeline in the future?"
3. Action: Display the scroll in a prominent place in your homeschool area. It is a living document that can be added to as new, significant events happen.

Differentiation & Extension

• For Extra Support: Pre-draw the timeline with marked spots for each event. Provide pre-written labels for the student to glue on. Focus more on the drawing and photo placement than the writing.
• For an Extra Challenge: Encourage the student to research and add one major world event that happened in each year of their life next to their personal event (e.g., "The Olympics were in Tokyo" next to "I learned to ride my bike"). This broadens their understanding of their place in global time.

Lesson Plan Evaluation