Make a Timeline Worksheet or Graphic Organizer

A timeline worksheet gives students the shape of a period and asks them to fill in the rest: the events are drawn in the right places, but their names or dates are missing. You can make one in Preceden from any timeline by hiding those details before you print it, and print the event list separately as the answer key.

Build the timeline first

Start with a normal timeline that has every event named and dated. Add the events you want students to identify, and put related ones on their own layer if the worksheet covers more than one strand, such as battles on one layer and treaties on another. Timeline Projects for School covers building a classroom timeline in more detail.

A free account holds up to 10 events on each timeline, which is about right for a single worksheet.

Hide the event names

Click the Appearance button above the timeline, open the Content Visibility section, and uncheck Names under Display on Timeline. Every event keeps its bar or icon and its dates, but its name no longer appears on the timeline. Students then write in what happened at each point.

To leave a few names in place as hints, keep Names checked and hide the others one event at a time instead: open the event, expand More Options, and check Hide name. Hide Event Details Within a Specific Layer explains the same checkboxes for a whole layer.

Or hide the dates

For a worksheet where students work out when things happened, uncheck Dates under Display on Timeline and leave Names checked. The axis still shows the dates along the timeline, so students can read each event's position against it. Gridlines make that easier and are on in a new timeline.

Print the worksheet

Click Share above the timeline, then PDF. Under Content, keep Timeline checked and uncheck Event List, because the event list always shows every event's name and would give the answers away. Pick your paper size and orientation, then click Download Now. Print Your Timeline covers the rest of the PDF options, including Magnification for fitting a wide timeline onto one page.

To hand the worksheet out digitally instead, click Image rather than PDF. The image holds the timeline on its own, without the event list, so you can drop it into a document or an assignment.

PDFs from the free plan include a Preceden logo. Our paid plans remove it.

Print the answer key

Open the PDF dialog again, uncheck Timeline and check Event List. The PDF then holds only the list of events, with their names and dates, which makes a one-page answer key.

When you are done, go back to Content Visibility and check Names or Dates again so the timeline looks normal the next time you open it.

Why not share the link instead?

A shared link shows the event list below the timeline, and hovering over any event opens a popup with its name. Both give the answers away, so a worksheet works best as a PDF or an image. A link is the right way to share the finished timeline once students have handed their worksheets in.