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 the new year starts in some places before others, and page 2 works out how many hours after Kiritimati midnight reaches seven other places. 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 from 1550 to 2000, 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 the International Date Line and Kiritimati, then follow midnight west. On December 31, check a world clock every hour or so to see where the new year has already arrived. Share the customs from your own students' families after page 12.
Look up the time now in a place far away and work out 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 texts on how the new year travels around the world and how eight places welcome it, from Scotland's first-footing to the twelve grapes of Spain, with a world map. Students work out when midnight reaches each time zone, 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.
Tell us what to make next, or build your own with a worksheet maker.
This worksheet is free to download, print, copy, and hand out in your classroom or at home. You do not need to create an account, and there are no watermarks on the PDF.
