Things You'll Need:
- Masking tape
- Permanent marker
- Toy clock with movable hands
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Step 1
Make sure the student is prepared. In order to tell time effectively, the learner should understand numbers from 0 to 60, be able to count by 5s and understand the fractions 1/2 and 1/4. If your learner does not, teach that information, too.
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Step 2
Access prior knowledge. Find out what your student already knows about telling time by asking them to tell you about the toy clock. This way you can clear up any misconceptions as well as build upon what the student knows.
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Step 3
Label the toy clock. Place small pieces of masking tape on each clock hand and under each number. Write "hour" on the hour hand, "minute" on the minute hand and the appropriate minute number under each number (such as "5" under the 1, "10" under the 2, and so on).
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Step 4
Explain hours and minutes. Share that each day has 24 hours and that each hour has 60 minutes. If your student understands money, you can explain that minutes are like cents and hours are like dollars.
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Step 5
Show a day in hours. Use the hour hand to show a day, with your student telling the hour as you point to it on the clock. So you point the hour hand at 1 and your student says "1 o'clock."
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Step 6
Show an hour in minutes. Use the minute hand to show an hour, with your student counting off each minute as you move it around the clock, from 3:01 to 3:59.
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Step 7
Practice counting. Review counting by 5s as you move the minute hand to each number on the clock so that your student learns that when the minute hand points to the 6 it means 30 minutes, for example.
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Step 8
Give up the clock. Let your student move the clock hands as you mention various times, starting with hours, such as 4 o'clock, and moving onto hours and minutes, such as 6:45.
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Step 9
Remove the labels from the clock. Repeat steps 7 and 8 without the helpful labels on the clock.
