Community Timeline: How a Town Changed

3rd Grade Social StudiesCommunities Past and Present4 pages

About this worksheet

A 3-page timeline activity for 3rd grade social studies, set in Oak Creek, a fictional town, with an answer key on page 4. Eight cards give dates from 1850, when settlers arrive, to 2015, when a new library opens. Students write each event on a vertical timeline. Four questions follow. Two ask what came first or just before and after the hospital, and two ask how paved roads and a highway might have helped the town. It follows C3 Framework standards D2.His.1.3-5 and D2.His.14.3-5.

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Page 1 of 4

Community Timeline: How a Town Changed: Communities Past and Present - page 1
Community Timeline: How a Town Changed: Communities Past and Present - page 2
Community Timeline: How a Town Changed: Communities Past and Present - page 3
Community Timeline: How a Town Changed: Communities Past and Present - page 4

When this preview is focused, use the left and right arrow keys to move between pages.

Curriculum objectives covered

D2.His.1.3-5

“Create and use a chronological sequence of related events to compare developments that happened at the same time.”

Students build the eight-event timeline on page 2, then use it for questions 1 and 2.

D2.His.14.3-5

“Explain probable causes and effects of events and developments.”

Questions 3 and 4 ask how paved roads could help people reach the hospital and how the highway might have helped Oak Creek grow.

What's inside this worksheet

Oak Creek: How a Town Changed

A historical society's box of records has got mixed up. Eight event cards appear out of order, such as 1950 for the hospital and 1885 for the railroad.

Build Oak Creek's Timeline

A vertical timeline with eight boxes, from 1850 at the top to 2015 at the bottom. Students write each card's event beside its year.

Think Like a Historian

Four written questions. Students compare the railroad (1885) with electricity (1910), name the events either side of the hospital, and suggest why paved roads and the highway mattered.

Answers

The full timeline in order and the two sequence answers. Sample reasons for questions 3 and 4 note that dates alone do not prove a cause.

How teachers use it

Make it harder

Cover the years on the page 2 timeline before you copy it. Students then have to order the eight cards from the dates on page 1 themselves.

Cut and glue

Cut out the eight cards so students can lay them in order on their desks first. It helps students who copy long sentences slowly.

Your own town

After question 4, ask when your own town got its first school or highway. Add those dates to a class timeline next to Oak Creek's.

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