Time Line

Grade Level: 3-5

Time: 45 minutes

Theme: Florida Timeline

Purpose: Understanding the broad categories of time in years, decades, and centuries.

Objectives: To establish when Florida`s First Natives arrived in this state as well as to contrast the point of first contact with the Europeans and the demise of the Native chiefdoms.

Resources: Adapted from: Wise Hearts, Wise Hands

Materials: For each group you will need a ball of twine or rope (at least 25 feet long), masking tape, and a marker.

Sunshine State Standards: SS.A.1.2.3

Teachers Information: Linear Time: In Western cultures, time is perceived as being linear, in the sense of traveling in one direction from the past, through the present and into the future. That means the future cannot be known in advance, although it is believed to be influenced by what goes before. It also means that we should be able to learn from things that happened in the past. The impact to Florida?s environment and resources by the arrival of the Europeans can be contrasted to the 12 thousand years, prior to the 16th century, that the Natives inhabited the state.

Procedure: Have each group measure a length of twine or rope at least 25 feet long. Stretch it out and tape the ends down (or if you wish to do this activity outside, tie it to two sticks stuck into the ground). Make a mark at one end. The mark represents when humans first arrived in this state, over 12 thousand years ago. A mark one foot from the other end represents today.

Scale: 2 feet equals 500 years.

Events:

  • Earliest People in Florida: 12,000 BC to 15,000 BC
  • Natives build mounds in Florida: 3,000 BC to 4,000 BC
  • Oldest known pottery in North America made in Florida : 2000 BC
  • First known Europeans arrive in Florida: 1513 AD
  • Last known Timucuan dies in Cuba: 1767 AD
  • Seminoles established in Florida: 1800 AD

Have each student make a guess as to when (or where along the time line) each of the above listed events occurred. For example, the first event is "Earliest People in Florida". Have the students put a bit of tape with "Earliest People in Florida" written on it on the time line where they think the Native People first came to Florida. When all of their guesses are in place, talk with the students and move the tapes to the appropriate places

Evaluation: Discussion Questions:

1) How close were your guesses?

2) What date was most surprising to you?

3) Why are most of the events marked on the timeline at the end?

4) Discuss the changes that have been made to Florida`s environment and cultures in the relatively short time the Europeans have been in Florida.

5) What event(s) do you think had had the biggest effect on Florida`s First People?