TELLING THE TIMEin blocks of 5 minutes

THE HOUR HAND

• This is the shorter hand on the clock.

• This tells you what hour it is.

THE MINUTE HAND

• This is the longer hand on the clock.

• This tells you what minute it is.

Yesterday you learnt to tell the time in 5 minutes past…

• What times do these clocks show? Discuss this with your grown up.

After the minute hand passes ‘half past’, the time stops being ‘minutes past’ and becomes ‘minutes to’.

This is slightly trickier because the minutes on the outside of the clock are still counting past the hour.

MINUTES

PASTMINUTES

TO

This clock makes it easier to read the minutes to the hour because all the numbers in green show the minutes to the hour.

How many minutes is it to the hour?What time is this clock showing us?

It has already gone past 10 o’clock.It is not 11 o’clock yet.It is 25 minutes to 11.

How many minutes to does the minute hand show?

What time is it?

The hour hand on many clocks moves closer to the hour as the time gets nearer.

It has not reached 8 o’clock yet.It is 10 minute to 8.

How many minutes to is the minute hand showing?

What is the proper name for this time?

It is 15 minutes to 5 o’clock.

We always call this quarter to 5.

Activity• Practise telling the time in words using this game.

• Maths Frame Time Game (choose reading time to the nearest 5 minutesoption).

• Throughout the day use a watch or a clock to spot these times…

25 minutes to 11

20 minutes to 3

quarter to 12

10 minutes to 2

5 minutes to 5