Context of Lesson: First Grade, Mathematics, Telling Time
State Standard: Tell and write time. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.B.3 Tell and write time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks.
Hello my first grade mathematicians! This week, we have been learning about how to tell time on both digital and analog clocks. Today, we will be focusing on reading an analog clock. As a reminder, when reading an analog clock the short hand is the hour hand. This means that whatever the number the little hand is pointing to is the hour of the day. In contrast, long hand is the minute hand and tells us the minutes of the hour! When looking at the clock, we count by 5’s! So if the minute hand is pointing toward the 1 then the time would five minutes past the hour and if it was pointing toward the 2 it would be ten minutes past the hour. By the end of today, we will be able to determine the hour and the minutes within the hour in order to tell time on an analog clock!
Now, we are going to be using a Google Drawing of a clock. I will be projecting the clock on the board and you will each get a white board and marker. I will rotate the hour hand (the short hand) and the minute hand (the long hand) and I want you all to write down the time on the white board. When prompted, you will hold up the whiteboard and we will compare answers!
(Teacher passes out the individual white boards and markers. Teacher displays the Google Drawing on the board and rotates the minute and hour hand to display different times. The hands are moveable; therefore, it will be simple for the teacher to rotate the arrows to the different times quickly. The teacher will instruct the students not to hold the board up until instructed. The teacher will go over the answer and count by 5’s each time depending on where the minute hand is to show the students the pattern. Do this 7-10 times depending on how well students seem to grasp the concept. This will act as an informal formative assessment because the teacher will be able to notice if students are struggling and will be able to see if students need more explanations and another lesson how how to read an analog clock.)
Elizabeth, I like the pairing of high and low tech (Drawings for teacher and whiteboards for students) to represent time as both analog and digital clock times. Would also be interesting to see teachers and students change devices and time formats. Another way to check for understanding.
Elizabeth, this is such a fun, engaging activity to teach students to tell time! The whiteboards are a great way to check for individual understanding and to see which students may need some extra support. It might be fun to have students come up to the board and choose where the hands are going to go.
I really like this activity, Elizabeth! I had a hard time telling time on a clock (rather than a digital one) growing up, so this hits close to home haha. I like how simple, yet effective this activity is. It’s also a low-stakes activity for kids who just need to show their understandings using the whiteboards.
Hi, Elizabeth! This is such a fun way to teach about telling time – a concept that is really difficult for some students to understand! I love how you have control of the clock and can do a quick assessment of how students are doing with this concept. I love this idea, great work!