This week in Year 1 we have been learning to tell the time.
We began by securing our knowledge of some of the vocabulary related to time, including before, after, past, earlier and later. We also learnt the difference between seconds, minutes and hours. We were interested to find out that there are 60 seconds in 1 minute and 60 minutes in 1 hour.
Then we practiced making whole and half turns in clockwise and anticlockwise directions. We linked this to a clock using the numbers 12, 3, 6 and 9. We particularly enjoyed using hoops as clocks and gave a partner instructions to turn.
Then we discussed the difference between the minute hand and hour hand. We noticed that the minute hand was longer than the hour hand and that it moves around the clock much faster.
To help us become familiar with the layout of a clock we made our own clocks. We can also use them to practise telling the time at home.
We learnt that when the time is __ o’clock that the minute hand always points to the 12.
Once we were confident to tell the time to the hour, we learnt that when the minute hand points to the 6 the time is half past ___. We looked carefully at the hour hand and noticed that it pointed in between 2 of the numbers, we had to work out which number it had been past already to help us know what the time was.
How you can help at home:
- Use the clock you made at school to practise telling the time – you could test your family to read the times you make or you could challenge them to make some o’clock and half past times.
- Set yourself clock challenges – Every time the time is o’clock, hop on your left foot 10 times. Every time the clock strikes half past, hop on your right foot 10 times.
- Use a timer to measure out seconds, minutes and hours – what activities can you do in each of these time periods?