ExplorerGrades 1–2⏱ 12 min
Telling time
Drag the hands of a clock. Read hours, half hours and five-minute times in numbers and words.
Standards: 1.MD.B.32.MD.C.7
1Wonder
School starts at 8 o’clock. Lunch is at half past 11. How do you know when it is time, just by looking at a clock?
2Explore
This activity needs a bigger screen
Turn your phone sideways, or open this lesson on a tablet or computer. The explanation and quiz below work here.
Minute hand moves by
Try this
- Drag the long minute hand all the way around once. What does the short hour hand do?
- Make 3 o’clock. Where is the minute hand?
- Make half past 3. Where is the hour hand now?
- Choose 5 minutes and turn on Show minutes around the edge. Count by fives to make 3:20.
- Press Show me a time and set the clock.
3Explain
Step 1 of 5
Two hands
A clock has a short hour hand and a long minute hand. The hour hand shows the hour. The minute hand shows the minutes.
Reading a clock
Read the hour hand first (the short one), then the minute hand (the long one). Each number is 5 minutes for the minute hand.
4Practice
Question 1 of 5
What time is it?
5Recap
- The short hand shows the hour. The long hand shows the minutes.
- Minute hand at 12: o’clock. At 6: half past.
- Count by fives around the clock to read the minutes.
- Quarter past = 15 minutes. Quarter to = 45 minutes.