Show the students the birth announcements from the newspaper. Tell the students that we know nothing about what the future holds for these babies. When they met the elderly friends, they talked about their past interesting life experiences. These babies are just starting their lives. Pass out a birth announcement to each student or pair of students. Tell the students to write a two-paragraph description of the imagined future life of the baby in the announcement. Tell students to be creative and include education, family, career, travel, philanthropy, and other life experiences.

These paragraphs should go through peer editing and revision before students make a final copy to hang up or put in a class book for all to read. Have students share their creative writing within small groups of students.

Tell the students to bring to school in two days copies of photos of significant events from their own lives (infancy to present). These photos will be used on a timeline so they should be copies of the originals. See Handout One: Request for Photos.

Day Two:

Ask the students if they have younger siblings and whether they remember how much work it was/is to have a baby in the house. Lead the students to recognize that they could share their time, talent, or treasure with a busy family with a baby.

Tell the students that you have found a family in the community who could use some help during this busy time while their baby is little. Ask the students to think of things they could do to help this family. Brainstorm a list, adding some suggestions that you think are appropriate to the family you contacted. Guide the students to identify their suggestions as time, talent, or treasure.

Come to a consensus about what they can do for the family and make a plan to carry out. Discuss responsibilities connected with the plan, make a timeline, and carry out the plan over the next several days or weeks.

Day Three:

Ask the students to reflect on their own lives since they were infants. What have they learned to do in that time? Tell them to think about some of the things they have done that have made them proud. Can they think of something they may have done to make the world a better place? Or what kind thing have they done for someone else.

Review and show examples of timelines for a variety of topics. Tell the students that they are going to make a timeline of a partner’s life, including the past and the imagined future. They will get the information for the timeline through interviewing.

Students may choose a partner or be given a partner for this activity. They use Handout Two: Interview for Timeline, being careful to record accurate dates, names, and places. As the interview is taking place, students should have their pictures out in order to share with the interviewer.

Give some guidelines for the materials and final appearance of the time line that they will be making for the person they have just interviewed. The person creating the timeline should be aware of the feelings of the person for whom he/she is making it. It should be respectful, accurate, neat, and attractive.

Day Four:

Students sit next to their partners as they create their timelines. They can talk about the information as they work. The students may use lettering, photographs, magazine pictures, drawings, stickers, stencils, or other creative tools to make the timelines meaningful and attractive.

In this timeline project, students MUST include birth, at least three events between birth and present age, at least one act of philanthropy (actual or future), and three invented events in the future.