Have You Got The Time?

Draw your own clock face

This is an introductory activity most schools would do with their children as a way of discovering how much they really know about analogue clocks.

We would do it before beginning a series of lessons about telling the time, and then do it again a week or so later after much of the work has been done, to see how much of a difference our learning experiences have made.

It looks and sounds incredibly simple, but never ceases to surprise us with how much they know, and how much they are still to learn.

Here's what to do...

Give your child a blank page, and ask them to draw a clock face. That's it. Nothing else to say.

Resist the temptation to help them, or telling them to include the various hands and numbers. We want to see how much they can include without prompts. Make sure there is not an analogue clock visible to them when doing this, otherwise they'll just copy it, giving us false information.

You might be shocked and/or surprised by what they produce. Don't be alarmed, as this gives us the teaching information that we need. Don't even tell them what they have missed out on including, or how they should have set it out. We will let the next few lessons sort that out naturally.

Some things that you might see ( and this is not limited to just the younger children, I've seen it done by all levels up to Year 10)

- One or more hands may be missing

- They might only do the numbers to 10

- They might do the numbers 1-24 for 24 hours in a day

- The numbers might not be evenly spaced

- The numbers might be there, but they only make it around to about where the 7 is, leaving a big empty gap.

- Attempts for marking in the seconds could be there, but they put more/less intervals between the numbers than needed.

- They might put in the numbers 0-12, rather than 1-12

I know some of these sound odd, but please don't be surprised, or show surprise to your children. They are merely producing what they think is correct.

Keep these as a record for later.

After doing your lessons and activities for a week or two, do this activity again. Compere the two results, you will hopefully be surprised and quite chuffed with what you have helped your children to learn.

The next few activities do not focus strictly on just telling the time. We want them to learn within a rich context, so that the learning becomes embedded, and they learn for understanding, rather than just following a rule or formula.

I call it 'rules without reasons', meaning that often they show they can do something by following a rule, yet they still do not know why. We want them to understand the 'why', and not just the 'what'.

My One Handed Clock

We often hear that our children do not know how to tell the time, or how to read analogue clocks.

They rely on checking the digital time that is on their ever present phones, or, on what I see so much of lately with kids of all ages, fitbits and similar devices.

So, how can we encourage the telling of time with an analogue clock, but in a way that is more engaging than just constant practice?

Try this...

Many of the clocks that are in our homes and classrooms might be very expensive, heirlooms, antiques and nostalgic for a number of reasons.

Other clocks could be the cheaper versions from the supermarket that can be easily dismantled and reassembled again.

If you are prepared to dismantle your cheaper clock for a few days, take the second and minute hands off, leaving just the hour hand.

You could also buy a clock mechanism from a hardware store or online and create your own clock face, itself a rich learning experience! I have just checked online, there are many to choose from for well under $10.00

Now that you have a clock with just an hour hand (it may seem weird at first!!) use this to tell the time for the week. Your children will begin to see what the hour hand actually does.

Compare the one handed clock to another analogue clock with all of its hands at different times.

What does it look like on the hour? On the half hour? Quarter hour? 5 mins? 10 mins? etc

Hopefully, after a few days where you discuss these aspects of time, your children will get a greater understanding of how the hands work together and why we need them for more specific telling of time.

Now you can try and put your clock back together!!!!!

Making Your Own Clock

Now that you are pretty confident with the functions of the clock hands, how about designing your own clock face?

Your earlier activity was designed to let the kids show us what they know about an analogue clock face.

Hopefully at this stage, they are aware of what the numbers are, and where they belong on the clock.

Let's inject a bit of fun into designing our clock face!

Rather than putting the digit 1 at one o'clock, a 2 at 2 o'clock and so on, let's live on the edge a little and be more creative!!

This can be done at any number of levels, depending on each child.

So, instead of the digit 1, create an equation that gives 1 as the answer.

eg 1/2 of 2, 20-19, How many dogs I have, etc

For number 6

(2x5) - 4, 1/3 of 18, 36 ÷ 6. etc

1/2 of 2

(2 x5) - 8

15 -12

100 ÷ 25

You could substitute the numbers for the equations, rather than having both on the clock.

Making Our Own Timers

This activity can be done using just a few items from around the house.

Can you make a timer that records 10 seconds? 30 seconds? 1 minute? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? 1 hour?

Using a few old plastic bottles, some sand, water or rice, we can create various timers that record given amounts of time.

Fill a bottle with water. Turn it upside down and time how long it takes the water to pour out. Do this 3-5 times. Why? Doing it just once only gives us 1 answer, we want to see what the consistent answer is.

Do the same with rice, sand.

Now experiment with ways to restrict the speed at which the water comes out. Place a lid on the bottle with a hole. Experiment with the size of the hole. Is one hole sufficient?

Tape two bottles together so that they can be flipped over to do the timing again.

Do both bottles need to be the same size?

These can be made with water or sand or water.

Experiment with ways to restrict and increase the flow.

Is your timer accurate every time?