How to Teach Time

Break learning to tell time into smaller steps to promote mastery.

The concept of time is abstract; recognizing time on a clock is a skill that can be difficult for children to master when first introduced. Teach your children how to read an analog clock by breaking down the large concept of time into smaller tasks. Kids usually begin learning how to tell time between kindergarten and third grade. Do not worry if your child struggles with this concept to begin with. Some children may not be developmentally prepared to fully master the understanding of time, but will pick up the skill when they are ready.

Things You'll Need

• Clock manipulatives

Instructions

1. Identify the parts of a clock using a clock with hands that can be manipulated. Explain that the small hand identifies the hour and the big hand tells us how many minutes have passed during an hour.

2. Teach children how to skip count by fives. This will help the students count minutes around the clock and reinforce that there are five minutes between each number that represents an hour.

3. Practice counting by fives while moving the minute hand around the clock manipulative, starting at the "1." Ask students to rotate the minute hand to specific numbers around the clock and identify what minute is represented.

4. Explain that when reading time, the hour is read first and then the minutes. Ask the children to move the hour hand to a specific number. Then have them move the minute hand to a specific minute that is a multiple of five. Read the time out loud to the students to demonstrate how to read the time.

5. Demonstrate what the term "quarter after" means using the manipulative clock. Put the minute hand on "3," and skip count from "1" by fives to the "3" to show the students that 15 minutes is represented when the minute hand is in this position. Have the students use their clocks to put the hour hand on any number, and encourage each child to read the hour and minutes using the term "quarter after."

6. Put the minute hand on the "9," and skip count by fives to demonstrate that 45 minutes is represented when the minute hand is on the "9." Instruct the children to put their minute hand on the "9" and move the hour hand just a little before any number. Read the times on each of the students' clocks as "a quarter to" each hour.

7. Explain that when the minute hand is on the "6," time can be read as "half past." Ask the students to move the minute hand to "6" and the hour hand to any number. Have each student practice stating the time as "half past" the hour they chose.

8. Instruct the children to move the minute hand to "12." Explain that when the minute hand is on "12," a new hour has started. Have the students move the hour hand to any number. Read the time out loud by stating the hour number first, followed by "o'clock."

References

• Teach Kids How: Teach Your Child How to Tell Time
• Time for Time: Time Telling Lessons
• The Franklin Institute: Just in Time
• Lesson Plans Page; Telling Time to the Hour and Half Hour; Kimberly Kochetta