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Timelines give students a visual, explorable sequence of events that turns a list of dates into a genuine narrative. Add events in any order — ChimeEdu sorts them chronologically for you automatically — then publish to your classroom and let students zoom, scrub, and tap their way through the content at their own pace.

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What Makes Timelines Powerful

Automatic Chronological Sorting

Add events in whatever order suits you — ChimeEdu rearranges them by date automatically. No need to plan the build sequence in advance.

Rich Event Cards

Each event supports a title, date, image, description, and an optional location. Students get context, not just a date and a name.

Play Mode

Present the timeline to the class in auto-advance play mode. Events reveal in sequence — ideal for guided lessons and whole-class presentations.

Explore and Zoom

Students scrub through the timeline, zoom into a specific period, and tap any event for the full card — on desktop or mobile.

Works Across Subjects

History, literature, science, biography, current events — any content with a sequence benefits from the timeline format.

Published to Your Classroom

Publish directly to a classroom. Students open the activity from their feed — no link sharing, no separate logins required.

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Creating a Timeline

1

Open New Activity

From your teacher dashboard, click New Activity and select Timeline.
2

Add your events

Click Add Event to start building your timeline. Add events in any order — there is no need to enter them chronologically. ChimeEdu will sort them for you.
3

Fill in each event card

For every event, provide:
  • Title — the name of the event
  • Date — a specific date or year
  • Image — a photograph, illustration, or diagram (optional but highly recommended)
  • Description — formatted rich text giving students the context they need
  • Location — an optional place name or geographic reference
4

Publish to your classroom

When you are ready, click Publish and select the classroom you want to assign the timeline to. It appears on your students’ dashboards straight away.
Build the deck in any order that suits your workflow — look up one event at a time, paste in notes as you go, or bulk-add events and fill in descriptions later. The timeline will always sort events by date automatically when students open it.

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Play Mode

Play Mode lets you present the timeline to the whole class in a guided, auto-advance format — perfect for lessons where you want to walk students through events in sequence rather than letting them explore independently. To activate Play Mode:
  1. Open the published timeline from your dashboard.
  2. Click the Play button in the activity toolbar.
  3. Events reveal one at a time in chronological order, advancing automatically or on your cue.
Use Play Mode at the start of a new topic to introduce the sequence before students explore on their own, or at the end of a unit as a revision walkthrough. You can pause at any event to discuss it with the class before moving on.
You can attach Google Drive files — documents, slides, PDFs — directly to individual timeline events. This is available on Plus and Premium plans. It is a useful way to link a primary source document or a reading to the exact moment in the timeline it relates to.

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Subject Ideas

Timelines are most obviously associated with history, but the format works anywhere sequence matters:
  • Trace the rise and fall of ancient civilisations, mapping key turning points along the way.
  • Chart the sequence of battles in a military campaign.
  • Build a political timeline of a revolution from first cause to resolution.
  • Map a century of social change through legislation, protest, and reform.

Related topics

ChimeEdu for Teachers: Your Interactive Classroom HubCreate Interactive Map Activities for Any GeographyHow to Use ChimeEdu Timelines and Flash Card DecksLink Google Drive Files to Your ChimeEdu ClassroomChimeEdu Teacher FAQs — Classrooms, Activities & Plans