How to teach telling time, step by step
Most children learn to tell time in the same order: first o’clock, then half past, then quarter past and quarter to, then every five minutes, and finally any minute. Each level here matches one of those steps, so a sheet never asks for more than your class has learned.
Two kinds of practice
Read the clock
Children look at where the hands point and write the time. This builds reading the hour hand first, then the minute hand.
Draw the hands
Children see a time such as 7:30 and draw both hands. It is harder than reading, because they have to remember that the hour hand sits between the numbers once the minutes pass the hour.
Common Core standards
- 1.MD.B.3Tell and write time in hours and half hours.
- 2.MD.C.7Tell and write time to the nearest five minutes.
- 3.MD.A.1Tell and write time to the nearest minute.
Summaries in our own words; see the Common Core State Standards for the full text.
