Dr. Montessori originally created the Time Line of the Centuries in the classroom by using three sets of Golden Thousand Chains.  Most classrooms are not equipped with three chains of one thousand beads each. So, this exercise can be done with a paper replica of the three chains.  In this file we have prepared printed strips, each consisting of two ten-bars.  Each page has 10 strips, the equivalent of 100 years or a century per page.  The whole file contains 10 pages of strips.  Therefore, to make three chains of a thousand beads each (equivalent to 3,000 years) the file must be printed three times.   Each time line of a thousand beads must be assembled by taping the corresponding paper strips together.  This can be done by the teacher or the teacher may invite a small group of students and give them a presentation as a project.  At a specific time of the day, this project can be taken on by the students who can use a half hour each day until the time lines are ready for classroom use.  Once the chain strips are done, they can be laid out and compared to the real Golden Bead Chain of one Thousand.  The complete lesson presentation is included in this file.

The Montessori Pedagogical Notes published on the Montessori Files website are available for purchase by anyone. They are intended for exclusive use by the person who purchased them. These instructional notes are based on Dr. Montessori’s Method of education and have been elaborated by Franco Albanesi, A.M.I. subsequent to many years of study and practical classroom application. These notes are copyrighted property of Mr. Albanesi, all rights reserved.  In agreement with international copyright law, the buyer acknowledges and understands that such notes