by Sarah Major
In this age of digital everything, children can usually avoid struggling to read an old-timey clock face with hands. They can see a display such as 9:15 and glibly read the numbers to you. But does your child really understand the meaning behind the pair of numbers, and will she be able to skillfully use time in her daily life without gaining the meaning behind the number pairs? Using time is a necessary skill, but many children struggle to learn how.
Why not help your child learn to tell time easily by injecting some fun right brained learning cues? By right brained cues I mean body movement, images, metaphors, story, humor, and all that good stuff. To simplify this article, let’s imagine a child and name him Oliver. (Oliver will need to be familiar with counting by 5’s for this clock lesson.)
Make a clock
Find an old sheet or shower curtain and make a huge circle on it with a magic marker, preferably taller than your child. If you hang it on a wall, he should be able to “step inside” the clock (face the clock), with his feet in front of 6, the 12 above his head, his right extended arm marking 3 and his left extended arm pointing to 9. Next mark the clock face with numbers.
Time telling-terms
When the giant clock is ready, ask Oliver to “step inside” the clock to practice time telling terms.
“O'clock” signals the top of the hour, so Oliver will point straight up when he hears that term.
“Quarter after” is the signal for Oliver to extend his arm straight out at his side, pointing at the 3.
“Quarter ‘til” will prompt him to extend his left arm and point to the 9.
“…thirty” means bend over and touch your toes.
Practice the minute hand
After Oliver has practiced time-telling terms, it is time to practice minutes before and minutes after. Tell Oliver to step into the clock again, this time with a pointer in his right hand and get all warmed up to play minutes before and after the hour. Prompt him to move his arm to point to the minute you specify as you play the game.
To begin, say, “5 after” and watch Oliver extend his right arm to the 1. Next say, “5 'til” and prompt him to move the equal distance from o’clock on the left side of the clock using his pointer.
Then say, “10 after” and let Oliver point to the 2. “10 'til” will be a mirror of 10 after on the left side of the clock.
Continue systematically saying the number pairs in this way until he is familiar with where the various numbers are in relationship to o’clock, quarter after and 30 after.
After practicing doing the minutes before and after in order, try mixing it up a little by asking for 15 before and after, then 25 before and after, etc. By pointing to the pairs of numbers in a random order, Oliver will begin to relate the number pairs on the clock:
1 and 11
2 and 10
3 and 9
4 and 8
5 and 7
Practice telling time
Once Oliver has become very familiar and fluent with minutes before and after and can readily find the minutes you ask him for, move to reading the clock whole body. Oliver will once again have a nice pointing stick in his right hand and this will again represent the minute hand. The hour hand will be Oliver’s left arm without a pointer. Playing this game will almost be like a stand up version of Twister and might produce a lot of hilarity all around. When you say “10 minutes after 9” Oliver will use his right arm to point to the minutes and then will identify the hour (9) with his left hand. Continue naming times for Oliver using the same terms until he’s very familiar with finding those times on the clock.
Much later, you can make a clock face with construction paper in Oliver’s favorite color. Next make another circle in a new color and fold twice. Cut the second circle on the fold lines so that you have four quarters. Give these quarters to Oliver and teach him that when you say “quarter after, he can place the first cut out quarter so that it lines up with the o’clock and the 3. If you say “half past or 30,” Oliver will place another quarter next to the first one. Now the right side of the clock is covered with 2 quarters. If you say “45 after,” Oliver will place the third quarter next to the last one so that all the clock is covered except for the space between the 9 and the 12. Doing this tactile, visual activity will help Oliver understand that 45 after and 15 'til are the same spot on the clock.
Make it a kinesthetic activity
To make this time-telling game a kinesthetic activity, use 3" x 5" cards with digital times written on them with a big marker (such as 6:10, 3:50, etc.) Have Oliver step up to the whole body clock. Then have him read a card and show the time using his body. If he sees “ 9:20” first he will use his left arm to point to the 9. His right, minute-hand-pointer arm which is patiently waiting while pointing straight up will then swoop down to point to 20 minutes after. Make sure Oliver relates his long pointing arm to the longer minute hand on an analog clock and his left arm is of course shorter like the shorter hour hand on the analog clock.
The keys for success with this whole body learning activity is to teach in comfortable increments allowing for plenty of time for Oliver to gain fluency with each step before moving on to the next.
Sarah Major, CEO of Child1st Publications, grew up on the mission field with her four siblings, all of whom her mother homeschooled. As an adult, Sarah has homeschooled a small group of children in collaboration with their parents, and has taught from preschool age to adult. Sarah has been the Title 1 director and program developer for grades K-7, an ESOL teacher, and a classroom teacher. As an undergraduate student, Sarah attended Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. and then received her M.Ed. from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI. In 2006 Sarah resigned from fulltime teaching in order to devote more time to Child1st, publisher of the best-selling SnapWords™ stylized sight word cards. In her spare time Sarah enjoys gardening, cooking, pottery, quilting, and spending time with her family.
Child1st Publications, LLC
www.child1st.com
800-881-0912
In this age of digital everything, children can usually avoid struggling to read an old-timey clock face with hands. They can see a display such as 9:15 and glibly read the numbers to you. But does your child really understand the meaning behind the pair of numbers, and will she be able to skillfully use time in her daily life without gaining the meaning behind the number pairs? Using time is a necessary skill, but many children struggle to learn how.
Why not help your child learn to tell time easily by injecting some fun right brained learning cues? By right brained cues I mean body movement, images, metaphors, story, humor, and all that good stuff. To simplify this article, let’s imagine a child and name him Oliver. (Oliver will need to be familiar with counting by 5’s for this clock lesson.)
Make a clock
Find an old sheet or shower curtain and make a huge circle on it with a magic marker, preferably taller than your child. If you hang it on a wall, he should be able to “step inside” the clock (face the clock), with his feet in front of 6, the 12 above his head, his right extended arm marking 3 and his left extended arm pointing to 9. Next mark the clock face with numbers.
Time telling-terms
When the giant clock is ready, ask Oliver to “step inside” the clock to practice time telling terms.
“O'clock” signals the top of the hour, so Oliver will point straight up when he hears that term.
“Quarter after” is the signal for Oliver to extend his arm straight out at his side, pointing at the 3.
“Quarter ‘til” will prompt him to extend his left arm and point to the 9.
“…thirty” means bend over and touch your toes.
Practice the minute hand
After Oliver has practiced time-telling terms, it is time to practice minutes before and minutes after. Tell Oliver to step into the clock again, this time with a pointer in his right hand and get all warmed up to play minutes before and after the hour. Prompt him to move his arm to point to the minute you specify as you play the game.
To begin, say, “5 after” and watch Oliver extend his right arm to the 1. Next say, “5 'til” and prompt him to move the equal distance from o’clock on the left side of the clock using his pointer.
Then say, “10 after” and let Oliver point to the 2. “10 'til” will be a mirror of 10 after on the left side of the clock.
Continue systematically saying the number pairs in this way until he is familiar with where the various numbers are in relationship to o’clock, quarter after and 30 after.
After practicing doing the minutes before and after in order, try mixing it up a little by asking for 15 before and after, then 25 before and after, etc. By pointing to the pairs of numbers in a random order, Oliver will begin to relate the number pairs on the clock:
1 and 11
2 and 10
3 and 9
4 and 8
5 and 7
Practice telling time
Once Oliver has become very familiar and fluent with minutes before and after and can readily find the minutes you ask him for, move to reading the clock whole body. Oliver will once again have a nice pointing stick in his right hand and this will again represent the minute hand. The hour hand will be Oliver’s left arm without a pointer. Playing this game will almost be like a stand up version of Twister and might produce a lot of hilarity all around. When you say “10 minutes after 9” Oliver will use his right arm to point to the minutes and then will identify the hour (9) with his left hand. Continue naming times for Oliver using the same terms until he’s very familiar with finding those times on the clock.
Much later, you can make a clock face with construction paper in Oliver’s favorite color. Next make another circle in a new color and fold twice. Cut the second circle on the fold lines so that you have four quarters. Give these quarters to Oliver and teach him that when you say “quarter after, he can place the first cut out quarter so that it lines up with the o’clock and the 3. If you say “half past or 30,” Oliver will place another quarter next to the first one. Now the right side of the clock is covered with 2 quarters. If you say “45 after,” Oliver will place the third quarter next to the last one so that all the clock is covered except for the space between the 9 and the 12. Doing this tactile, visual activity will help Oliver understand that 45 after and 15 'til are the same spot on the clock.
Make it a kinesthetic activity
To make this time-telling game a kinesthetic activity, use 3" x 5" cards with digital times written on them with a big marker (such as 6:10, 3:50, etc.) Have Oliver step up to the whole body clock. Then have him read a card and show the time using his body. If he sees “ 9:20” first he will use his left arm to point to the 9. His right, minute-hand-pointer arm which is patiently waiting while pointing straight up will then swoop down to point to 20 minutes after. Make sure Oliver relates his long pointing arm to the longer minute hand on an analog clock and his left arm is of course shorter like the shorter hour hand on the analog clock.
The keys for success with this whole body learning activity is to teach in comfortable increments allowing for plenty of time for Oliver to gain fluency with each step before moving on to the next.
Sarah Major, CEO of Child1st Publications, grew up on the mission field with her four siblings, all of whom her mother homeschooled. As an adult, Sarah has homeschooled a small group of children in collaboration with their parents, and has taught from preschool age to adult. Sarah has been the Title 1 director and program developer for grades K-7, an ESOL teacher, and a classroom teacher. As an undergraduate student, Sarah attended Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. and then received her M.Ed. from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI. In 2006 Sarah resigned from fulltime teaching in order to devote more time to Child1st, publisher of the best-selling SnapWords™ stylized sight word cards. In her spare time Sarah enjoys gardening, cooking, pottery, quilting, and spending time with her family.
Child1st Publications, LLC
www.child1st.com
800-881-0912
