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Students learn the basics of reading an analog clock to the hour and half-hour.
Imagine you have a magic machine that tells you exactly when your favorite cartoon starts or when it's time for a snack—that machine is a clock! But how do you read its secret code?
An analog clock has two main 'arms' called hands. They help us tell time by pointing to numbers. The hour hand is the short hand. It moves very slowly and tells us what hour it is. The minute hand is the long hand. It moves faster and tells us how many minutes have passed. Think of the hour hand as a turtle (slow and short) and the minute hand as a rabbit (fast and long). On a digital clock, we see numbers separated by dots, like . The first number is the hour, and the numbers after the dots are the minutes.
Quick Check
Which hand on the clock is the short one?
Answer
The hour hand.
When the long minute hand points exactly at the number , we call it o'clock. This means zero minutes have passed in the new hour. To tell the time, look at where the short hour hand is pointing. If the short hand points at and the long hand points at , it is o'clock. On a digital clock, this looks like . We use the double zero to show it is exactly the start of the hour.
Let's find o'clock. 1. Look for the short hour hand. Point it at the number . 2. Look for the long minute hand. Point it at the number . 3. On a digital clock, write the hour , then the dots, then two zeros: .
Quick Check
If the long hand is on 12 and the short hand is on 5, what time is it?
Answer
5 o'clock (or 5:00).
Sometimes the minute hand travels halfway around the circle. When the long minute hand points at the , we call it half-past. Because there are minutes in a whole hour, half of that is minutes. When it is half-past, the short hour hand will be halfway between two numbers. For example, if it is half-past , the hour hand is between and . On a digital clock, we write this as .
Let's show half-past . 1. Move the long minute hand to the . This represents . 2. Move the short hour hand so it is halfway between the and the . 3. Digital check: The time is .
If the clock says and we move the minute hand from the down to the , what is the new time? 1. The minute hand moved halfway, so it is now 'half-past'. 2. The hour is still , but the hand is moving toward . 3. The new time is .
What does the clock say when the long hand is on and the short hand is on ?
How do we write 'half-past 2' on a digital clock?
When it is 8:30, the short hour hand points exactly at the number 8.
Review Tomorrow
Tomorrow morning, look at a clock and try to identify which hand is the 'turtle' (hour) and which is the 'rabbit' (minute).
Practice Activity
Draw three circles. Draw the hands to show your wake-up time, your lunch time, and your bedtime!