Thematic Units - The Millennium

The Millennium

How long is a millenium? 1,000 years.

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

Book It! - An Amazing Millennium (Inventions and Discoveries of the Millennium)
Explorers of the Millennium
familyeducation.com - Countdown to the Millennium
Don't forget to click through the education timeline which highlights the progress of education over the past millennium. Participate in the poll "What do you think the Y2K bug's impact will be?" Take several Y2K and Millennium quizes. It's fun and edutaining!
FEMA For Kids - Y2K for Kids
Mars Millennium Project
White House Millennium Council
Submitted by: Noreene (One of my former teammates!)

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 vias 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:Billmont@warwick.net.
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 :
jrohlf@globetrotter.net (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

2000NOW kids! - This site contains great resources for kids, parents, and teachers. It provides a simple explanation of the problems surrounding Y2K and offers additional web sites for you to visit.

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.

Be Prepared for Y2K - This web site is sponsored by the girl scouts. They provide some pointers on what can be done to help prepare for Y2K.

Be Prepared for Y2K, Part 2 - More of what you can do to prepare. Kids can also type in their name to share with others across the internet what they are doing in preperation for Y2k.

Brenda A. Dyck's Millennium - "Millennium Mania: A Hotlist on the Millennium and Y2K" This site is a great find! It includes: millennium web sites, Y2K web sites, writing prompts, and much more!

CBC 4 Kids: Time - The Millennium - "Millennium News" Check out the great "Y2K Bugs" that were drawn by children. You can also find additional millennium resource sites. Children have the chance to read what people of of the past thought the world would look like today.

Celebrate 2000 next century section: 10/11/99 - This site includes some great articles dealing with the next century and what we can expect.

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. Ted Turner and his folks haven't forgotten you, either. There's a wonderful teaching guide at http://turnerlearning.com/cnn/millennium/ which offers thematic units and additional teacher resources. Note: you need the latest Shockwave/Flash plug-ins.

Countdown! How many Seconds To The New Millennium? - An nifty little online calculator will automatically configure how many more sections are left...and there's a neat calculator that tabulates how many seconds you've been alive. Have your students "guesstimate" and then calculate.

Counting to 2001 - In Australia, a Parrammatta High School Teacher offers a witty piece which explains how to count to 2001, pictures of fingers and toes included.

Envision The Future - Just how long is a millennium? Check out this Herald Tribune site for kids. You'll find a manageable time-line that's ideal for elementary students. There is also a segment on the next millenium with some special topics for your student to think about and some ideas on what they can do.

Great Minds of the 20th Century - examines twentieth century personalities."This unit was originally designed for students in an eighth grade gifted and talented class. It could also be used in grades 9-12 depending on specific curriculum and student abilities. The unit culminates with a "reception" during which students present the results of their research."

Great Minds of the Millennium - examines personalities prior to 1900."This unit was originally designed for students in a seventh grade gifted and talented class. It could also be used in grades 8-12 depending on specific curriculum and student abilities. The unit culminates with a "reception" during which students present the results of their research."

Greenwich 2000: Millennium Timeline - Greenwich, England was settled in the year 49 A.D. These timelines cover 49-2000. Have your students determine where U.S. history fits into the Greenwich timeline. Don't forget to include the founding of your town and your school.

Here Come the Millennium - A great site that contains updated millennium resources.

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

Millennium

Millennium @ nationalgeographic.com

Millennium Bureau of Canada - Find some great Canadian resources along with International resources as well.

Millenium Curriculum - "The AT-A-GLANCE Millennium Tour is an opportunity for you and your students to explore the future by visiting the past. The History Channel has created activities for educators that can be used as is. Please feel free to adapt them as necessary. The material may be reproduced and distributed to the students."

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.

Mrs. Donn's Y2K and the Millennium Bug - A nice collection of lesson plans, Web sites and activities for k-6 classrooms.

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.

The Kids Guide to the Millenium - "The Kids Guide to the Millennium is written by Ann Love and Jane Drake and published by Kids Can Press. Illustrations are by Bill Slavin. The level of content and difficulty of the activities is suggested for children ages eight to twelve. A useful tool for teachers planning to use the millennium in their lessons, the book includes activity suggestions, fun facts and a two thousand year time line."

The Kids Guide to the Millenium: Millennial Music - "What music did people listen to one or two millennia ago? Some old instruments have survived, as have pictures of people playing them. So we can guess what sounds were possible."

The Kids Guide to the Millenium: Predict Your Future - "Write down your predictions for the future and put them in an envelope marked, "Do Not Open Until 2050." Store the envelope somewhere safe, perhaps in a family photo album or a box of family treasures. Then, when the year 2050 rolls around, open the envelope and see how accurate your predictions were."

The Kids Guide to the Millenium: Marking Time - "How good are you at guessing the time? People long ago realized everyone has a slightly different sense of time. They needed units of time that everyone could agree on -- like hours, minutes and seconds. A millennium ago, kings and queens lit candle clocks to tell the hours. Here's how to turn a candle into a clock."

The Millennium Calendar - Students from European schools and others participating in the Millenium Project express their hopes, dreams and predictions for the new millennium in words and pictures. This calendar works like an Advent Calendar. On each day leading up to the end of the millennium you can open a new link to the contributions made by schools in a country.

The New York Times Newspaper in Education Program

Time "Quotes" - An entertaining collection of famous quotes about many aspects of time. Your students can add to the online collection, too.

USA Today - Millennium - This comprehensive Web site offers features on the 20th Century, multimedia exhibit, news items and Millennium Moments, snippets which highlight people and events that shaped today's world.

World Peace 2000 - World Peace 2000 is a global network of organizations in over 130 nations supporting the UN's International Year for a Culture of Peace beginning with One Day In Peace, January 1, 2000! There is also a youth movement section, and an online World Peace picture book online -- in 20 languages.

Y2K for Kids - A great site that explains the whole phenomenon (in kid friendly language) and also includes some links for kids.

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