Because the world is split into time zones, the new year does not arrive everywhere at once: it starts on the island of Kiritimati, in Kiribati, and sweeps west for 25 hours until it reaches American Samoa. Each place welcomes it in its own way, with twelve grapes in Spain, a falling ball in New York and a leap off a chair in Denmark. January 1 itself goes back to the Roman calendar, and many people also keep new years of their own, such as Lunar New Year, Rosh Hashanah and Nowruz.
Twelve pages. Page 1 explains why some places have the new year before others, and page 2 counts on to midnight from the time in three places, with an hour line to help. Page 3 is a world map with the eight places of pages 4 to 7 numbered, two places a page, each a short text with questions. Page 8 tells how January 1 became New Year's Day, page 9 is a timeline to fill in, and page 10 three other new years. Page 11 matches six new year words to their meanings, and page 12 asks how your own family welcomes a new year.
On a globe, find Kiritimati and follow midnight west to your own town. Read a place together, then let partners read the next one and share what surprised them. Share the customs from your own students' families after page 12.
Look up the time now in a place far away and count on to see whether it has reached the new year yet. Then talk about which custom from the pack your family would like to try.
This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
Short, simple texts on how the new year travels around the world and how eight places welcome it, from Scotland's lucky first visitor to the twelve grapes of Spain, with a world map. Students count on to find when midnight reaches three places, read and answer questions, learn how January 1 became New Year's Day, read a timeline, meet three other new years and write about how their own family welcomes one.
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