When you look at a clock, you see numbers from 1 to 12. These numbers help us know the hour and the minutes. There are two hands on the clock: the hour hand, which is shorter, and the minute hand, which is longer. Together, they tell us what time it is. When the minute hand points to 12, it means zero minutes, and we say it’s “o’clock.”
For example, if the minute hand is on the 12 and the hour hand is on the 4, it is four o’clock. We can count by fives to know the minutes. Each time the minute hand moves from one number to the next, five minutes have passed. The minute hand goes all the way around the clock in one hour, which is 60 minutes. Half an hour is 30 minutes.
An analog clock has hands that move. If the hour hand points to 3 and the minute hand points to 1, the time is 3:05. A digital clock shows numbers. The first number is the hour, and the second number is the minutes. So, 3:05 on a digital clock means the same as on an analog clock.
If the hour hand is between 7 and 8 and the minute hand is on 10, we count by fives to get 50 minutes. The time is 7:50 on both analog and digital clocks.
We can also tell time using quarter and half hours. A clock can be divided into quarters and halves. The 0 and 30-minute marks show the half hour. The 15 and 45-minute marks show the quarter hour. Each quarter hour is 15 minutes, and two quarters make a half hour, which is 30 minutes.
To tell time after the hour, we say “after” or “past” the hour. If the minute hand is on the 3, we say “quarter past” or 15 minutes after. If it’s on the 6, we say “half past” or 30 minutes after. If it’s on the 9, we say “45 minutes after.” We use “past the hour” for times up to the half hour. After that, we say “before the hour.”
To tell time before the hour, we say “before” or “to” the hour. We count the minutes to the next hour. If the minute hand is on the 6, we say “30 minutes before.” If it’s on the 9, we say “quarter to” or 15 minutes before.
Even if the hour hand is still on 2, we say 3 because we are counting the minutes to the next hour. For example, if the clock shows 20 minutes before 7, we say 6:40. If it shows 10 minutes before 4, we say 3:50. And if it shows 5 minutes before 3, we say 2:55.
Now you know how to read both analog and digital clocks and tell time in different ways. Keep practicing, and you’ll become a time-telling expert!
Make Your Own Clock: Gather some craft materials like paper plates, markers, and a split pin. Create your own analog clock by drawing numbers 1 to 12 around the edge of the plate. Cut out two arrows from paper to serve as the hour and minute hands. Use the split pin to attach the hands to the center of the plate. Practice setting different times and ask a family member or friend to guess the time you’ve set. This activity helps you understand how the hands move and how to read different times.
Time Hunt: Look around your home for different types of clocks. You might find analog clocks, digital clocks, or even clocks on appliances like the microwave or oven. Write down the time shown on each clock and try to read them out loud. Notice how the time looks different on analog and digital clocks but means the same thing. This activity will help you see how clocks are used in everyday life.
Time Story: Create a short story about a day in your life using different times. For example, “At 7:00 AM, I wake up. At 7:15 AM, I eat breakfast. At 8:00 AM, I go to school.” Draw pictures to go along with each time in your story. Share your story with your class or family. This activity helps you connect time-telling with daily activities and understand how time is part of your routine.
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:
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When we look at a clock, we see the numbers 1 through 12, which represent the hour and the minutes. We see an hour hand, the shorter of the two hands, and a minute hand, the longer of the two hands. The hour hand and the minute hand work together to show us what time it is. When the minute hand is pointing to 12, the minutes are zero, so that’s when we say it’s o’clock.
For example, in this diagram, the minute hand is on the 12 and the hour hand is on the four. This indicates that the time is four o’clock. We skip count by fives around the clock to figure out the minutes. When the minute hand moves from one number to the next, that means five minutes have passed. The minute hand will go all the way around the clock in one hour. There are 60 minutes in one hour and 30 minutes in a half hour.
This is an analog clock. The shorter hand, the hour hand, is pointing to the three, indicating that the hour is three. The longer hand, the minute hand, is pointing to the one, indicating that the minutes are five. Therefore, we would read this clock as 3:05.
This is a digital clock. The first number is the hour, which is three, and the second number is the minutes, which are five. It also shows the time as 3:05.
In the analog clock, the hour hand is between the 7 and the 8, indicating that the hour is 7. The minute hand is pointing to the 10. If we skip count by 5 ten times, we get 50, which is the value for the minutes. The analog clock shows 7:50, and the digital clock also shows 7:50.
Let’s take a look at the hour hands on the two analog clocks. I extended the hour hands to show their placement. The hour hand moves throughout the hour as well. The first clock shows the hour hand pointing directly to the three, indicating it is just past three. The second clock shows the hour hand more than halfway between the seven and the eight, indicating that the hour is more than halfway over, but we are still in the seven o’clock hour.
**Quarter and Half Hours**
We use quarter hours and half hours to tell time. To better understand this, let’s divide the clock into quarters and halves. The 0 and 30 minute marks indicate the half hour, while the 15 and 45 minute marks indicate the quarter hour. Each quarter hour is 15 minutes long, and two quarter hours equal one half hour. Each half hour is 30 minutes long.
**Telling Time After the Hour**
To tell time after the hour, we can use “after the hour” or “past the hour.” If the minute hand is pointing to the three, we say “quarter past” or 15 minutes after. If the minute hand is pointing to the six, we say “half past” or 30 minutes after. If the minute hand is pointing to the nine, we say “45 minutes after.” We usually use “past the hour” for telling time up to the half hour. After the half hour mark, we often say the time as “before the hour.”
**Telling Time Before the Hour**
To tell time before the hour, we can use “before the hour” or “to the hour.” When telling time before the hour, we count the minutes to the end of the hour. We start from the minute hand and skip count by fives to the 12 or the end of the hour. If the minute hand is on the six, we say “30 minutes before.” If the minute hand is on the nine, we say “quarter to” or 15 minutes before.
Notice how I said 3 as the hour even though we are still in the two o’clock hour. We say the next whole number because we are counting the minutes before that hour or the minutes until the next hour.
Let’s look at more examples. Notice the position of the hour hand in these analog clocks. Since we are more than halfway through the hour, the hour hand is more than halfway between the numbers. When using “before the hour,” we can look at what number the hour hand is closer to. That number will be the hour that we say.
This clock reads 20 minutes before 7 or 6:40. This clock reads 10 minutes before 4 or 3:50. And this clock reads 5 minutes before 3 or 2:55.
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This version maintains the educational content while removing any informal language or unnecessary repetition.
