Take Your Time

Use Hour Hand to Tell Time. Display the demonstration clock.

Remind students that the longer hand, the blue hand on the demonstration clock, is used to measure minutes and the shorter hand, the red hand on the demonstration clock, is used to measure hours. Explain to students that in the beginning of the lesson they are going to think about how the hour hand can be used to tell time.

Set the hands on the demonstration clock to 12 o'clock. Write "12:00 AM" on the board or display.

Point out that the times between 12:00 midnight and 12:00 noon are followed by the abbreviation AM. They were probably sleeping at 12:10 AM. The times after 12:00 noon are followed by the abbreviation PM. The Content Note provides further definition of these two abbreviations.

Move the hour hand around the clock to show time passage through the night. Ask students to focus on the hour hand as it moves from hour to hour. Have students count each hour with you as you move the hand around the clock (1 o'clock AM, 2 o'clock AM … 6 o'clock AM). Set the hour hand so it is just before 7 o'clock. See Figure 1.

Move the hour hand to 12 o'clock noon as students continue to count each hour (7 o'clock AM, 8 o'clock AM, … 12 o'clock PM).

Tell students they are now going to focus on the movement of the hour hand throughout a single hour. Begin at the nearest hour (e.g., one o'clock). Review with students that an hour has 60 minutes and point out the 60 on top of the demonstration clock. Show students the passage of a whole hour on the demonstration clock. As you move the blue hand around the face of the clock, focus student attention on the movement of the hour hand. Ask where the hour hand starts (e.g., pointing directly at the one) and where it ends (e.g., pointing directly at the two). Discuss where the hour hand is at various times during an hour. For example, when the hour hand is just past 2, it is a little after 2 o'clock. When the hour hand is closer to 3, it is almost 3 o'clock.

Continue to review using the hour hand to tell the approximate time throughout the afternoon and evening hours. For example, set the hour hand to show a little after four o'clock or about nine o'clock. See Figure 2.

End the activity with the hands pointing directly at 12 o'clock again.

Use Minute Hand to Tell Time to the Nearest Half Hour. Distribute individual clocks to students. As students show times on their individual clocks, periodically ask them to hold the clocks up so that you can check their work. Tell students that until now they have focused on the hour hand and the large red numbers to tell what hour it is. Using the demonstration clock, point to the blue hand and remind students that it is called the minute hand. Direct their attention to the blue numbers and tell them these numbers tell them how many minutes have passed.

Set the clock at 10 o'clock, for example, and have them watch the two hands as you make a complete circle with the minute hand. Ask students to repeat the process on their individual clocks.

Have students take their hands and cover half of their clockfaces. Use a piece of paper to cover half of the demonstration clock's face.

Set the minute hand on the demonstration clock to the 60. Ask students to move the minute hand on their individual clock so that it also points to 60. Since they are focusing only on the minute hand, it is not important if the hour hands are different on each clock. Move the minute hand slowly around the clock as students move the minute hand on their individual clocks. Together, count the minutes that pass by fives.

Set the demonstration clock to six o'clock and ask students to set their individual clocks to show the same time.

Ask students to count by fives as you move the minute hand to show that 30 minutes have passed. See Figure 3. Students should also move the minute hand on their individual clocks.

Introduce Time to the Nearest Fifteen Minutes. Set the demonstration clock to six o'clock and ask students to set their individual clocks to show the same time.

As you move the minute hand on the demonstration clock, have students count by fives as they move the minute hand on their clocks to show that 15 minutes have passed.

If a student responds that the minute hand is pointing at the three, remind him or her that the red three tells the hour and the blue numbers along the outside edge show the minutes that have passed. See the Content Note.

Direct students' attention to the demonstration clock. Set the clock for 7 o'clock, for example. As you move the minute hand to show 7:15, have students count aloud by fives as you ask what time the clock shows. Set the clock back to 7 o'clock and repeat the process for 7:30 and again for 7:45. Ask student volunteers to write the time shown on the board.

Ask students to set their individual clocks to another hour, for example 11 o'clock. Repeating the same process, ask students to show you 11:15, then 11:30, and then 11:45 on their clocks. Repeat as necessary.

Assign the Levi's Busy Day pages in the Student Activity Book. Students will practice reading and writing time to the nearest fifteen minutes using analog clocks. They will use the activity described to determine whether the time given is AM or PM. For each problem, students will first model the time on an individual clock and then draw the hands on a clock.

Upon completion, choose several questions and ask students to explain how they determined whether the time given was AM or PM. Ask students to model the time on their individual clocks and to hold them up for you to see. For each time, ask the following questions.