Time is ticking!
- Learning Resources Posted On Nov 4, 2014
Teaching children to tell the time can be a daunting task, some seem to pick it up quickly where others struggle for years to fully understand what all those number positions and hands mean. With the introduction of digital clocks & watches and more recently smart watches, analogue time-telling seems even more distant to some children. My +1 was recently given a smart watch for his birthday, which had countless different faces which can be used. He seems to be able to keep time using it but we certainly won’t be using it to teach Squirt how to tell the time!
Do you get this frustrated trying to teach time-telling?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QVPUIRGthI
Telling the time features very early within a child’s education, beginning with the basics of children learning to ‘use everyday language related to time, ordering and sequencing familiar events and measuring short periods of time in simple ways’.
(Mathematics: Space, Shape and Measure 40-60 months/Early Learning Goal)
This then progresses into Key Stage 1 Mathematics - Measurement where pupils should be taught to:
- measure and begin to record time (hours, minutes and seconds)
- sequence events in chronological order using language
- tell the time to the hour and half past the hour and draw the hands on a clock face to show these times.
- compare and sequence intervals of time
-  tell and write the time to five minutes, including quarter past/to the hour and draw the hands on a clock face to show these times
- know the number of minutes in an hour and the number of hours in a day.
 Pupils in Key Stage 2 should be taught to:
- tell and write the time from an analogue clock, 12-hour and 24-hour clocks
- estimate and read time with increasing accuracy to the nearest minute
- record and compare time in terms of seconds, minutes and hours
-  use vocabulary such as o’clock, a.m./p.m., morning, afternoon, noon and midnight
- know the number of seconds in a minute and the number of days in each month, year and leap year
- solve problems involving converting from hours to minutes; minutes to seconds; years to months; weeks to days.
(Taken from the New National Curriculum 2014)
For more user-friendly time-telling resources, take a look at the list below of some of Learning Resources’ Top Time Telling Tools!
This fun, familiar game covers hours, half-hours and quarter-hours across two levels of play. Great for practising time in the classroom and at home.
I have used these dominoes in a classroom setting of 8 year olds and they loved playing this game! The dominoes look at both digital and analogue time, and focus on 15 minute increments. There is an activity guide included with suggested activity ideas.
Hot Dots® Telling Time Practice Cards
Turn learning to tell the time into an interactive game with the self-checking Hot Dots® system. Children simply work through a multiple-choice activity card and then select an answer by touching the pen to the corresponding dot for an audio/visual response!
Jumbo Timers
With bright colours and large displays, these timers keep everyone on time! When the time is up the button pops up and the buzzer sounds. Two available; 60-Second Jumbo Timer and 60-Minute Jumbo Time!
Big Time™ Learning Clocks®
Hidden gears maintain correct hour and minute relationships as time-telling concepts are demonstrated to individual or groups of children. Teaching guides are included and each clock comes with a removable stand. Available in the range is a large 12-hour Demonstration Clock, a 12-hour Student Clock and a 24-hour Student Clock.
During my time working in classrooms I found that children loved being in charge of a whiteboard pen! If your children are the same, try these double-sided Wipe-Clean Clock Boards. Children can fill in digital time, analogue time or both.
For a more advanced yet fun way of reinforcing time, including elapsed time, try this Race Around the Clockâ„¢ Game. This game helps to build confidence in understanding time and problem solving. Suitable for ages 8+.
For more information about our wide selection of Time Telling Resources, head to our website.
Until next time…
Laura
Design Your Own Beaker Creature Competition! Add to our range of Beaker Creatures!Learning Resources are giving children the chance to have their very own Beaker Creature design made into a plush toy!Throughout August, we're inviting your kids to send us their unique Beaker Creature designs to enter our competition. Five lucky winners from the UK will then be chosen at random and will receive a plush toy of their design made by Custom Cuddlies.See below for full Terms and Conditions.
- Design your own Beaker Creature using any medium, i.e. pencil drawing, paint or clay
- Five winners will receive their Beaker Creature design as a plush toy
- One entry per child will be accepted. Please provide name and age with the entry
- UK entries only
- Entries must be submitted by Friday 31st August 2018 23:59
- Entries can be submitted via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, emailed to marketing@learning-resources.co.uk or sent via post to Learning Resources Ltd, 51a Bergen Way, King's Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 2JG
- Winners will receive their prize by 30th September 2018
- Please consider the custom cuddlies toy safety laws here
READ MORE
