Primary Standards:
MAFS.2.MD.3.7 Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes.
Connecting Standards:
MAFS.2.NBT.1.2 Count within 1000; skip-count by 5s, 10s, and 100s.
Content Knowledge:
Prior to 2nd grade, students explored telling time on both analog and digital clocks to the nearest hour and half hour. In 2nd grade they will become more precise at telling time, to the nearest 5 minutes.
Students make connections between representing time on digital and analog clocks, recognizing that on a digital clock, the hours are always to the left and the minutes on the right. Having students read and write times on both analog and digital clocks and having them show the time on one when given it on the other help familiarize them with both ways to represent time.
When telling time to five minutes, students use their understanding of skip counting to determine how to say and write the time when looking at an analog clock. When the minute hand is pointing at the 5, it indicates 25 minutes because each number on the clock face indicates the end of a 5-minute interval. As students revisit the analog clock in 2nd grade, they may think about it as a number line that is split into sixty units, and skip count by fives as they touch the numbers on the clock face, connecting number ideas (and linear measurement intervals) to telling time.
It is not the goal of the standard that students learn about a.m. and p.m., nor is it the goal that they can use informal time language such as 5 past 7 o’clock, or 5 til 8 o’clock. Teachers may wish to informally expose students to these concepts in everyday language and civic activities such as center times. Teachers may also wish to build upon informal language from 1st grade such as half past the hour, etc.
GCG 1 Learning Goal: Skip count by 5s to tell time
- Step 1: Skip count by fives from 0 to 60
- Step 2: Use reasoning to estimate time using a one-handed (hour hand) clock
- Step 3: Connect the concept of skip counting by fives to identify the number of minutes shown by the minute hand of the analog clock
GCG 2 Learning Goal: Tell and write time to the nearest five minutes
- Step 1: Tell time to the nearest five minutes on a digital and analog clock
- Step 2: Write time to the nearest five minutes on a digital and analog clock
- Step 3: Tell time on a digital and analog clock using language such as “half past,” “five after,” “quarter till,” and similar descriptive words
