What are the best strategies to teach students how to tell time?
- Teach the basics
- Time to the hour
- Time to the half hour
- Time to the 5 minutes
Read the ideas below and then grab this game resource to practice telling time.
Basics of Telling Time
- the short or little hand is the hour hand-just look at the number on the clock
- the long or big hand is the minute hand-count by 5s to find the minutes
- When the long hand reaches 12 the minutes start over
- clock hands only go in 1 direction-clockwise
- There are 60 minutes in 1 hour
- Time is always written with the hour then a colon and then the minutes 2:15.
Games
When learning or practicing a new skill, use games to make learning fun.
This resource has 3 different games-Memory, Go Fish and a Wild Card game (similar to Uno) and also a scoot game.
Telling Time to the hour
Once they know the basics, teach them how to determine the hour and the minute. Teach anchor times with the minute hand. For example, when the long hand-the minute hand- is on the 12, the time is always on the hour or read “o’clock.” In the example below it is 1:00-“1 o’clock”
Telling Time to the half hour
Next, teach your students when the long hand moves to the six then it is half past or 30 minutes past the hour. In the example below it’s 1:30.
Telling Time to the quarter hour
Then teach students how tell the time when the hour hand is between numbers. Remind them that the short hand hasn’t gotten to the next number yet, so look at the number that it just went past. For example, since the short hand just went past 1 and it’s NOT to the 2 yet, the time on the clock below is 1:45 “one forty-five” or quarter till the hour.
Telling Time to the 5 minutes
The next step is to teach students to tell time to the 5 minutes.
Step 1: Look at the little hand first (help your students to remember by saying “little before big”)
Step 2: Say the number it’s pointing to or just recently passed-that’s the hour hand
Step 3: To find the minutes, look at the number the long hand is pointing at and then count by 5 using this pattern- if the long hand is pointing to 1 it’s 5 minutes past the hour–if the long hand is pointing to the 2 then it’s 10 minutes past the hour and so on.
Practice Telling Time
When students are learning to tell time, they need LOTS of practice. They need to practice showing the time on a clock. Alternately, students need to look at the time on a clock and then write the time.
Since this is a life skill, lots of practice will build confidence so that students can apply this practical skill in everyday life.
Telling Time Games
So, how would you like some games to practice? Math games are the BEST way to practice skills. Students can play memory, go fish and a wild card game (like Uno) with partners for independent practice.
Play scoot with your whole class. This engaging game involves students moving around the room while completing task cards.
Scoot Game Gards Read more about scoot here!
Hope these ideas help you teach your students how to tell time! Hit REPLY and let me know how these ideas helped you!
Supporting you always! 💗
