Creating a timeline of a historical event, even one that is still so recent, can be helpful for students as they learn how current events impact their day to day life. In this activity, students will create a timeline of at least 5 events during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students can use school resources to research the different events and select the ones they deem most important. For example, the first known cases, when their school first went into lockdown, the development of the vaccine, etc. This example begins on December 31, 2019 with the first known detected case worldwide, but then focuses on the outbreak in the United States up through February 9th, 2021. Depending on when students are beginning this project, there may be many more events that they can include.
For an alternative to the timeline layout, have students create a timeline poster to incorporate into a presentation or gallery walk. You can add more than one template to this assignment to give students lots of options and adjust the instructions accordingly.
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Due Date:
Objective: Demonstrate your knowledge of Covid 19 Pandemic in the United States by creating a timeline of major events.
Student Instructions:
Requirements: Choose 5 or more major events in the Covid-19 pandemic. Add a description of the event in the description box and add an illustration with appropriate scenes, characters, symbols, or items.
Foster deeper understanding by guiding students to share, compare, and reflect on their timelines. This boosts engagement and helps students connect personal experiences to the broader pandemic story.
Define what you want students to gain from the discussion—such as recognizing patterns, building empathy, or analyzing causes and effects of major Covid-19 events.
Divide the class into groups of 3–4 and have each student present their timeline. Encourage group members to ask questions and identify similarities or unique choices in events.
Invite groups to share highlights with the class. Use prompts like “Which events appeared most often?” or “How did different families experience lockdown?” to spark discussion.
Encourage students to relate timeline events to their personal experiences. Ask them to share how certain events affected them or their community to build empathy and understanding.
Have students write or draw about one key insight they gained from the discussion. This helps solidify learning and gives you feedback on their understanding.
A Covid-19 timeline activity for middle school students involves researching and sequencing major events from the pandemic, such as key outbreak dates, school closures, and vaccine development, to help students understand how the pandemic unfolded and impacted daily life.
Students can create an engaging Covid-19 timeline by selecting at least five significant events, writing short captions for each, and illustrating them with scenes, symbols, or characters. Using templates or posters can make the timeline visually appealing for presentations or gallery walks.
Key events to include are the first reported cases, school lockdowns, introduction of remote learning, vaccine rollouts, and major policy changes. Students may also add local milestones or events that affected their community.
Timelines help students visualize the sequence and impact of events, making it easier to understand cause and effect, recognize patterns, and connect historical events to their own experiences.
Alternatives include creating timeline posters for gallery walks, building digital timelines using online tools, or combining multiple templates to let students personalize how they present information.