E2.6 Use analog and digital clocks and timers to tell time in hours, minutes, and seconds.
Activity 1: Reading a Clock
Goal
In this activity, students tell time on analog and digital clocks.
Material
- An analog clock with the hour (small) hand only (which can be manipulated)
- An analog clock with two hands (which can be manipulated)
- A class analog clock
- A digital clock
- Analog clock to be built by students
Instructions
For this activity, hide the classroom clock.
A few times during the day at the hour or half-hour:
- On the clock that displays only the hour hand, place the hand in the corresponding location.
- Ask students to predict where the minute hand would be and have a volunteer demonstrate on the two-handed clock.
- Compare their prediction and representation with the actual time using the class clock.
Repeat step 3 with the quarter hours.
With students, count in increments of 5 by pointing to the numbers that represent the minutes on the clock.
Repeat step 3 with the minutes.
Show the time displayed on a digital clock and ask the student to represent it on an analog clock.
At certain times of the day, show the time on the analog clock and ask students to tell what the digital clock says, and vice versa.
Print the PDF of the clock.
Source: translated from L'@telier - Ressources pédagogiques en ligne (atelier.on.ca), p. 2.
Activity 2: What Time Is It?
Goal
In this activity, students read the exact time indicated by the hands on an analog clock.
Material
- Analog toy clock with hour and minute hands.
Instructions
Place the hands of an analog clock so that it reads:
- 1:30 (to the nearest half hour);
- 6:15 (to the nearest quarter hour);
- 10:07 (to the minute).
Each time, ask the students to tell the time on the clock.
Ask students: "What would 7:30 look like?" and invite the student to turn the hands of the clock so that it reads 7:30.
Note 1
To avoid confusion, we write 10:05 and not 10:5 (even if 5 minutes are not the 5 tenths of an hour), the reason being that 10:5 could be interpreted as 10:50.
Note 2
Begin by reading the exact time, then the half hour, then the quarter hour and finally the minutes. Many students who can read 4:30 and 5:00 cannot read 4:33 and 4:58.
Source: translated from L'@telier - Ressources pédagogiques en ligne (atelier.on.ca), p. 3.