Understanding Time: Past, Present, and Future: First Grade Social
Time is the continuous, forward-moving stream of events that connects everything that has ever happened in the past, everything happening right now in the present, and everything waiting to unfold in the future.
The Three Realms of Time
Every experience in human life takes place within one of three realms of time: the past, the present, or the future. Learning to organize events into these three categories is the fundamental key to understanding history and planning your own life.
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| THE RIVER OF TIME |
| |
| <=== [ PAST ] <====== [ PRESENT ] ======> [ FUTURE ] ===> |
| Already Happening Yet to |
| Happened Right Now Come |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
The Past: What Has Already Happened
The past refers to any time before right now. It includes what you ate for breakfast this morning, the bedtime story you heard last night, your kindergarten days last year, and events that occurred hundreds or thousands of years ago before your grandparents were born.
The past cannot be changed or relived; it is preserved in our memories, in photographs, in written history books, and in old artifacts discovered in the ground.
CLUES FOR THE PAST
Time Words: Yesterday, last week, years ago, long ago, once upon a time
Verb Tenses: Walked, played, ate, was, were, lived
Artifacts: Old photographs, baby clothes, historical tools
The Present: What Is Happening Right Now
The present is this very moment in time. It is the breath you just took, the words you are reading on this page right now, and the sound of the classroom clock ticking on the wall.
The present is the only time where you can take action. You can choose to be kind right now, listen carefully right now, and learn something new right now.
CLUES FOR THE PRESENT
Time Words: Today, right now, at this moment, currently
Verb Tenses: Walk, play, eat, is, are, am reading
The Future: What Has Not Happened Yet
The future refers to any time that will come after right now. It includes what you will do after school today, what you will eat for dinner tonight, the adventures you will have in second grade next year, and the career you will choose when you grow into an adult.
The future has not been written yet; it is full of possibilities, hopes, dreams, and goals that you can shape through the choices you make today.
CLUES FOR THE FUTURE
Time Words: Tomorrow, next week, next year, soon, someday
Verb Tenses: Will walk, will play, will eat, going to be
How We Measure and Track Time
Human beings invented tools and systems to measure the passage of time with mathematical precision.
+---------------------+-------------------+---------------------------+
| MEASUREMENT TOOL | TIME UNIT | WHAT IT TRACKS |
+---------------------+-------------------+---------------------------+
| Clock / Watch | Seconds, Minutes, | Time during a single day |
| | Hours | |
| Calendar | Days, Weeks, | Time across a whole year |
| | Months | |
| Timeline | Years, Decades, | Events across history |
| | Centuries | |
+---------------------+-------------------+---------------------------+
Clocks: Measuring the Day
A clock breaks each day into twenty-four hours. Each hour has sixty minutes, and each minute has sixty seconds.
Analog clocks use two hands that rotate clockwise around a circular face with numbers 1 through 12. The short hand marks the hours, while the long hand marks the minutes. Digital clocks show the time directly in numbers with a colon, such as 8:30.
ANALOG CLOCK FACE DIGITAL CLOCK
12
11 1
10 | 2 +-------+
9 +---> 3 (Short hand at 3 | 03:00 |
8 4 Long hand at 12) +-------+
7 5
6
Calendars: Measuring Months and Years
A calendar organizes days into seven-day weeks and twelve months that make up one complete year: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December. A year is the time it takes Earth to make one complete journey around the Sun.
Cause and Effect Through Time
History is not just a random list of dates; it is a chain of cause and effect. A cause is why something happens, and an effect is what happens as a result.
When early settlers traveled west, they built log cabins because trees were plentiful (Cause: many trees; Effect: wooden cabins). When people invented the lightbulb, families could read and work comfortably after dark (Cause: electric light; Effect: evening activities).
CAUSE AND EFFECT IN TIME
[ CAUSE (Why it happened) ] ---------> [ EFFECT (The result) ]
Rain poured heavily yesterday Puddles formed on the playground
Inventors built the steam train People traveled across country fast
Exercises and Review
Exercise 1: Define past, present, and future, and provide one sentence describing something you did in the past and one sentence describing something you will do in the future.
Exercise 1 Solution: The past is time that has already happened, the present is what is happening right now, and the future is time that has not happened yet. A sentence for the past is: "Yesterday I rode my bicycle to the park." A sentence for the future is: "Tomorrow I will read a new library book."
Exercise 2: Which tool would you use to find out what time school ends today, and which tool would you use to find out what day of the week your birthday falls on this year?
Exercise 2 Solution: You would use a clock to see what hour and minute school ends today, and you would use a calendar to find out what day of the week your birthday falls on this year.