Time to the Minute
Background Information & Activities

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In this movie, Annie and Moby explore how to tell time to the minute. We highly recommend reviewing the other movies in the Time unit before screening this one, especially Time to the Hour. Telling time to the minute can be confusing at first for some children, so we recommend plenty of encouragement and practice. Offer opportunities throughout the day where children can read the clock and tell and write the time.

Remind children that a clock has a shorter hour hand and a longer minute hand. As the minute hand goes around the clock, the hour hand moves from one number to the next. It takes sixty minutes, or one hour, for the minute hand to go all the way around the clock. Point to the numbers 1 and 2 on an analog clock and have children count the minute marks between the numbers. Explain that it takes five minutes for the minute hand to move from one number to the next. So, they can skip-count by fives to count the minutes. Practice skip-counting by fives up to sixty together.

Use an analog clock to show 7:10. Show how the hour hand points to the seven and the minute hand points to the 2. To count the number of minutes past the hour, we can skip-count the numbers by five: five, ten. So the time is 7:10. Use the clock to model telling other times, such as 12:20 and 4:55. Be sure that children note how the hour hand changes as the minute hand moves. By the time the minute hand gets to the six, which is halfway around the clock, the hour hand is halfway to the next hour.

Next, show the time 8:33 on a clock. Have children consider what they already know to help them read the time. They should understand that when the minute hand is on the 6, it is half past the hour, or thirty minutes past the hour. Since the minute hand is actually three minutes past the 6, they can count on 3 minutes: 31, 32, 33. Practice telling other times together, such as 3:46 and 9:17 and model using the marked numbers around the clock. Then show a time such as 8:29 and explain that they can start at the marked number 5 to begin counting at 25 minutes and count on 4 minutes, or they can start at the marked number 6 and say 30 minutes, then count back 1 minute.

Encourage children to practice and find faster ways to tell time using landmark numbers. Telling time to the minute might be frustrating for some children. Help allay their anxieties. It takes practice and time!

See more lesson plans and resources: BrainPOP Educators.

Time to the Minute Teacher Activities

© 1999-2012 BrainPOP. All rights reserved.

Gone in Sixty Minutes

Have students make their own clocks out of paper plates, construction paper, and brass brads. Students can label the numbers on their clocks, but instead of using hatch marks between the numbers, they can write out the minutes. This will help students understand that each hatch mark represents one minute and there are sixty minutes in an hour. Talk about what happens when sixty minutes have passed. Then have students work in small groups or pairs and move the hands around their clocks to show different times. Have students write each time down in a list, and later, they can call out each time on the list for a different partner to show on the clock..

Time to Write

Have each student write a time on an index card. This time can be written with numbers, words, or with numbers and words; and the indicated time can be to the minute, quarter hour, half hour, or hour. Have students place the index cards in a box or hat. Then draw a card from the hat and have students show the time on individual clock manipulatives.

Begin and End

On a piece of paper, have your students draw two separate clocks without hour and minute hands. Before they begin an independent activity, have them draw the hands on one clock to show their start time. When they complete the activity, they should fill in the second clock to reflect their end time. Students should label the clocks with the name of the activity or assignment they completed. You may want your students to draw several pairs of clocks in order to record the time for different activities.

Time to the Minute Family Activities

© 1999-2012 BrainPOP. All rights reserved.

Zzzz

Have your child create a “Do Not Disturb” doorknob sign with a clock. Your child can draw a clock, add the numbers, and use a brass brad to fix an hour and a minute hand onto the clock. Your child can decorate the sign by writing “Do Not Disturb” “Quiet Please,” etc. Then each night before your child goes to sleep, have him or her move the hands to show the time. Your child can hang the sign on the doorknob as a way to inform family members that he or she is sleeping. Alternatively, you may want the sign to read “Rise and Shine!” and reflect the time your child needs to be woken up in the morning. There are many ways to use the doorknob sign to help your child become mindful of regular sleep routines.

Ready, Set, Go!

Set all the analog clocks (and even the watches) in your home to a different time. Then have your child walk through the home to find all the clocks and reset them to the correct time. Your child may want to wear a watch with the correct time or reference a satellite-controlled timepiece such as a cell phone. Encourage your child to read aloud the incorrect time on the clock before fixing it. Can your child tell how much time has passed since the incorrect time was correct?