1999

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/1999

1. What is the gregorian calendar designation?
2. What is the decadal context?
3. What made 1999 a special year before the new millennium?
4. Why did the United Nations call 1999 the International Year of Older Persons?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the gregorian calendar designation?A common year (365 days) starting on Friday, December 31st
2. What is the decadal context?The final year of the 1990s decade
3. What made 1999 a special year before the new millennium?1999 was the last full year of the 20th century and the 1990s, and it was the 1999th year of the Common Era.
4. Why did the United Nations call 1999 the International Year of Older Persons?It was to recognize the contributions, challenges, and rights of older adults, and to encourage care and inclusion for them.

Common Era (CE): A globally recognized system for numbering years, used as an alternative to AD (Anno Domini).
Millennium: A span of one thousand years, with particular cultural significance attached to the transition between millennia.
Y2K Bug: A potential computer programming flaw related to the representation of years, causing widespread concern about the transition to the year 2000.