Start the new year by exploring events that happened 100 years ago this year.
Brief Description
Students
use library and/or Internet resources to track down important events that occurred 100 years ago this year.
evaluate events for their importance in history/the importance of including them.
create a timeline of events for their assigned month/topic (optional).
Keywords
timeline, century, 100 years ago, new year, events
Materials Needed
Students
library and/or Internet resources (Internet resources provided below)
writing materials
Lesson Plan
The start of a new year is a perfect time for taking a look back in time. Why not start this year by having students research events that occurred exactly 100 years ago this year? This activity can take many forms…
Students might develop a timeline or a book of events that happened "100 Years Ago in History."
You might have students work in pairs. Each pair of students might research events that happened in a different month 100 years ago.
Instead of assigning students a month, you might assign a topic (for example, inventions, politics/laws, people, sports, entertainment...) Students will look for events related to their topic of focus.
Students might use book sources to compile their lists. An even better idea would be to take students into the computer lab and give them time to do online research. The Web resources listed below could be helpful with this project.
This Day in History… Web Sites
If students are assigned a month in history, they might research historic events for each day in the month they are assigned. These resources will be of value:
This Date in Medieval History**
* Change the URL in your browser window to reflect the day you want to research. For example, the url http://www.historynet.com/tih/tih0101/
ends with tih0101. The 0101 represents January 1, so you will need to change the URL to 0102 to see events for
January 2 or to 0715 to see events for July 15, and so on.
** Change the URL in your browser window to reflect the day you want to research. For example, the url http://historymedren.about.com/library/date/bl011.htm
ends with bl011. The 011 represents January 1, so you will need to change the URL to 012 to see events for January
2, 0111 to see events for January 11, 091 to see events for September 1, 1015 to see events for October 15, and so on.
Assessment
Which students/student pairs did the best job of research? Which put in less effort? You might assess students by comparing their results. Or create a rubric to grade students' research efforts. You might adapt for your purposes this Timeline Rubric, or you might adapt the Information Seeking, Documentation, and Product categories on this Rubric for a Research Project.
100 Years Ago in History 
