Thematic Units - The Millennium

The Millennium

How long is a millennium? 1,000 years.

We are currently in the 3rd Millennium. We entered the third millennium at the beginning of 2001. The end of the year 2000 ended the second millennium.

FEMA For Kids - Y2K for Kids
Mars Millennium Project

Millennium Activity
My second grade is making a "Countdown to the Millennium" chain. Each time a child reads a book a new link is added to our chain. Links are paper slips on which the child writes the title, author and reader's name. Our chain is hung in the hallway outside our classroom. The children really enjoy watching the chain grow and are amazed at how many books we have read so far.
Submitted by: Kathie

"The Great First Grade Millennium Greetings Project"
My class would like to share once-in-a-lifetime millennium greetings with other first grades around the country. During the month of December, classes will be invited to send greetings and/or wishes for the new millennium to the address listed below. This can be in the form of a simple greeting from the whole class, or individual wishes from class members. (Text only please - pictures take too long to download.)
**For joining in this project, participating classes will receive a file attachment via e-mail which will contain all the millennium greetings received as of midnight December 31, 1999. This file will be sent during the first week back to school in January. Students in the participating classes can then find and mark the location of their new friends on a map of the United States.

TO PARTICIPATE:
Please send your e-mail greetings/wishes to mailto:[email protected].
Please write "Greetings" in the subject box and include the following information: your name, name of school, location of school (city and state), e-mail address to which you would like the file sent, and your greetings/class wishes for the new millennium. Looking forward to hearing from you... Mrs. Ann Montgomery and 23 first graders at the Minisink Valley Elementary School, Slate Hill, New York.

Y2K...Hello! Project (This is date sensitive...act fast!)
Each participating class prepares an electronic postcard with their greeting for the year 2000. The cards are sent out via email to all other participating classes.
Dates : Inscription : until December 10, 1999
Postcard exchange : anytime in January 2000
Grade levels : K-8
Number of participating classes : unlimited
Procedure :
Register your class by sending an email with your name, location, grade level, and email address to :
[email protected] (prior to Dec. 10th)
1. As a class, prepare your card and message for Y2K (see instructions below).
2. Soon after December 10th, you will receive a list of all participating classrooms and their email addresses.
3. Send a copy of your card to each of the participating classes, starting with the class after yours on the list. Do this anytime in January.
4. Have fun sending, receiving, and tracking Y2K wishes from all over.
Card instructions :
1. Cards may be either hand-drawn (and scanned) or computer generated.
2. Since they will be sent electronically and printed out, please keep the format small (1/4 page is ideal).
3. Cards must be sent as GIF or JPEG attachments.
4. Make sure your card is clearly identified by school, group, and location.

Suggested classroom activity:
1. Print out the cards as they arrive.
2. Post them on a bulletin board around a world map.
3. Have kids identify on the map where each card comes from (string and pins).
4. In pairs or co-op groups, ask students to choose a card, learn more about its whereabouts and then present their findings to the class. Of course, this " research " may involve emailing the class who sent the chosen card. Note : You may choose to send the same card to all participating classes or you may choose to send out several different cards. What is important is that all classes on the list receive one card. Please feel free to email me with any questions.
Submitted by: Judith Rohlf - ESL/Quebec - jrohlf@email-removed

A Walk Through Time - The National Institute of Standards and Technology Physics Laboratory has put together an informative site with links to ancient calendars, early clocks, atomic clocks and world time scales.

CNN - The Millennium - This Web site is the cream of the crop. Designed as a companion Web site for its TV series on the millennium, CNN's site is definitely worth a visit. The presentations and content will knock your socks off. You enter at the
current week's feature. The site sections will become available as the series airs.

Library of Congress - The Library of Congress has compiled several articles on the controversy over dating centuries and millennia.

Millennium Institute - Here's an index of worldwide events to mark the turn of the millennium. Learn what others are planning and find out what you can do to use the years 1999-2001 constructively in your community.

The Atlantic Monthly Article: Zero - Author Dick Teresi explains the mystery behind the whole debate over when
the new millennium begins in this Atlantic Monthly article.