Here are some fun ways you can implement the CC Timeline portion of new grammar either with your own students at home or on Foundations community day!
This will be my second year tutoring, both years tutoring the Master’s class.
That said, I also use these activities at home with my Abecedarian/Apprentice aged children, with the exception of one of the activities which I will let you know.
I typically rotate these six activities throughout the year.
I will give you a sample of what that may look like for all 24 weeks as well.
Let’s dive in!
Dog Catcher
This game has two variations and has basically an unlimited amount of character options. It is similar to the bomb game I have seen for CC timeline ideas.
What you will want to do is have six dog print outs & one dog catcher print out.
Tape six of the dogs onto the back of six timeline cards.
Tape one dog catcher on the back of one timeline card.
Here are the two ways you can play:
- Good Guy – in this version, the dog catcher is a good guy who is saving the most amount of dogs that he can. Your class will want to guess the dog catcher sooner than later, ideally first, to save more dogs than dogs that are lost. You will sing the timeline song, have a student pick a card, flip it over to reveal, then repeat 6x.
- Bad Guy – in this version, the dog catcher is a bad guy who wants to bring the dogs to the pound. Your class needs to rescue as many dogs as possible, i.e. flip over all the dogs before the dog catcher is flipped over.
If you have a younger or more sensitive class, you can always say at the end something like, “Good news! I just received a call that all the dogs escaped on the ride to the pound.”
If you want to keep this “stick in the sand,” instead of printed pictures, just use a sticky pad to write “dog” or “dog catcher” on the cards.
I get my pictures from Canva and then laminate them to use for future years. Or in my case, I used them last year and will use them again this year.
Here are all the variations I play with my class:
- Dog Catcher
- Cat Catcher
- Reptile Catcher
- Barnyard – six farm animals and one barn to either save them from the storm or they are stuck in the barn all day instead of playing outside
- Rainforest Catcher – can play rainforest poacher as a bad guy or rescuer as a good guy.
- Fish Catcher – the bad/good guy is a scuba diver scientist with six tropical fish
- Forest Ranger – bad/good guy is a forest ranger with six forest animals
I space these out throughout the year but do it more often than the other activities.
It is a familiar game once played but the different photos are still fun to flip over if they win or lose the game too early i.e. wanted to play the bad guy version but got the bad guy on the first try.
My own kids love it and last year my class really liked it. Here’s to hoping they all like it again this year!
Sticky Hand
This one is pretty self explanatory.
I buy a pack of sticky hands on Amazon, the more you buy the better the price. You will ideally want one for each student to help reduce germs.
Lay the Timeline cards out on a table or a hardwood floor in order.
Sing the Timeline section once through, then have the first student hit a card with a sticky hand.
Once they get one, remove it from the lineup and keep it hidden.
Sing the Timeline song again, in which students will need to remember what the one pulled was, and have another student hit a card with a sticky hand.
Continue to play until all 7 cards are gone for the 7 repetitions.
This one is great for the Master’s class because it tests their memory on a song they likely know very well.
However, it is still easy enough for the younger classes.
Before or After
This is another great one to test memory and it doesn’t involve any supplies except the Timeline cards.
Draw a random Timeline card and set it out front as the first reference card.
Sing the Timeline portion once through. Then, draw another random Timeline card.
Ask the class if the newest drawn Timeline card comes before or after the reference card.
I have the students move to my right if it’s before and my left if it’s after to get them out of their seats.
We sing through the song to see who in the class was correct.
Pull another Timeline card and use the most previous drawn card as the new reference card to ask before or after.
Continue playing until all 7 repetitions are done.
Nerf Gun or Bow and Arrow
Again, a self explanatory one but the kids always seem to enjoy it.
I bring in my son’s Nerf gun or a plastic bow and arrow set.
We sing the Timeline song once through and then the first student shoots at the Timeline cards to see if they can get one.
Repeat for all students/7 repetitions.
To make it more difficult, you can remove the cards that get shot so students need to remember what is missing as they sing.
Mini Hands Stack
There are a couple variations you can do for this one depending on the age of your class.
Last year, I had my Master’s class wear two mini hands (one on each pointer finger) and arrange the cards from left to right in the order they go.
They would need to arrange the cards before the class was done singing the Timeline portion one time through.
Then, rotate through students as you sing each repetition.
Last year, this version was easy from my students to line them up left to right.
So, this year I plan to have them stack them from first to last, top to bottom. The cards should be perfectly stacked and not wonky. We will see how it goes!
The left to right version is perfect for the younger classes though, as they likely won’t have the song (and/or pictures if they can’t read) completely memorized.
For the Abecedarians or Apprentices, you could have the class work as a whole to get everything in order before all 7 repetitions are done.
Just have one student have the two hands, they should pick up one card and put it in the right spot, with the help of the class.
Then, have the next student wear the mini hands and choose the next card. Repeat for all students/repetitions.
Word Scramble
This one is one I would only recommend for the Master’s class since it adds a puzzle to the mix.
As I am prepping for the week, I will find one seven letter word that is in the memory work somewhere.
This way, the word is on the board for them so it’s not too difficult/distracting from the memory work.
I put the letters in random order on the back of the Timeline cards with a sticky note.
Sing the Timeline portion once through.
Have the first student flip over a Timeline card to reveal a letter.
Sing the song again, then the next person flips a card.
To win the game, they must have the correct word before the last repetition of the song is over.
If they don’t guess the word, I leave it up all of class to see if anyone can guess it before community day is over.
Sample Weekly CC Timeline Plan
Here is a sample for how I might plan for the 24 week year.
Sometimes, I will take into account if I am bringing something for a review game.
For instance, maybe we are using the Nerf gun to shoot turkeys during review. I might then do the Nerf gun CC Timeline activity since I already have it.
- Dog Catcher
- Sticky Hands
- Before or After
- Cat Catcher
- Nerf Gun
- Mini Hands Stack
- Barnyard
- Bow and Arrow
- Before or After
- Reptile Catcher
- Word Scramble
- Sticky Hands
- Rainforest Catcher
- Before or After
- Mini Hands Stack
- Fish Catcher
- Word Scramble
- Before or After
- Forest Ranger
- Nerf Gun
- Mini Hands Stack
- Sticky Hands
- Before or After
- *Presidents – I plan to sing through the song 4x, then do the other grammar, then sing through 3x at the end.
Save These Six CC Timeline Ideas for Later
If you are looking for new ways to teach your kids or class the CC Timeline this year, save this post to your Pinterest board or share on Facebook! Thanks for sharing!
