Post the free resource and anchor chart on TPT
Telling time is a part of Maths that can be challenging for children, particularly those with additional needs. Over the years, I have tried out different ways of teaching time and I have figured out a couple of things to make it easier that I would like to share in this post.
Analogue or digital first?
When, I started out teaching I followed our then curriculum and started with teaching analogue time on the hour, on the half and moving onto the quarter past (quarter after) and the quarter to. We worked A LOT on mastering those times on the clock. After much repetition and practise, I would feel confident that children had mastered these milestones, only to discover when we returned to it later in the year that many of the children had forgotten.
As time has gone on and I moved to teaching more senior classes, I realised that teaching digital first made a lot more sense. Teaching digital allows children to see the “wholeness of the hour”. It allows them to make sense of the fact that there are 60 minutes in an hour. Teaching children digital first and allowing children time to consolidate it properly means that when it comes to teaching analogue children have a solid foundation. They can start to see the connections between the digital minutes and analogue minutes. This conceptual understanding allows children to demystify analogue time and not to have to rely on the less successful strategy of random guesses and hoping for the best!
Readiness to learn time
I use a readiness to learn time checklist and I make sure that, before we teach time, children have mastered the following skills. Some of those skills, I formally teach and others, we incidentally draw attention to in mini lessons throughout the year. That checklist is available free to download at insert link ____________
- Can children skip to 60 in 5s?
- Do they understand the meaning of rotation?
- Do they understand the short hand means hours and the long hand means minutes?
- Do they understand the short hand is mostly between 2 hours?
Talk time!
In my class where we line up to go out to break, the children can see the clock. Line up time is an ideal time to do that incidental learning that I mentioned earlier. We talk about the clock face and how it has 2 hands. We talk about what we notice about the hands, one short one long. We notice they are always moving. We start to realise that the short hand is always between two hours. The teacher talk we use is also included as part of the free download link above.
Teaching time
When we go to formally learn how to tell time, I explicitly teach the concepts outlined in the checklist and check children's understanding. I then teach digital time. A detailed teacher guide is also available here. _______________insert link The children spend a lot of time on matching times and playing games in pairs or small groups to consolidate their learning. Attach a video showing it.
Prompt cards
Key to ensuring success for all children is the inclusion of a prompt card / answer sheet. This card shows children how to match the minutes. Children know they are free to use the prompt card until they no longer need it. This contributes hugely to developing mastery and building up their confidence in their Maths ability.
Analogue
When children have fully mastered digital, then I teach analogue. The guided mentioned above also includes analogue. The game can also be used to practice analogue time. Using the same cards for both digital and analogue allows children to make the connection between the 2 ways of telling time.
I hope that this is helpful in some ways and is useful in your classroom.