Telling the time: reading clock faces
Worksheet + game · PDF · free
Reading an analogue clock means reading two scales at once. The short hour hand moves slowly; the long minute hand counts minutes and also shows how far into the hour you are. Each number on the face is five minutes — the 3 means 15 minutes, the 6 means 30. Start with o'clock, half past, quarter past, and quarter to before five-minute steps. Say the time aloud both ways: 'twenty past three' and 'three twenty'. Digital clocks can check, but the goal is confidence with the face used in classrooms and exams.
Worked example
The hour hand is just past 3. The minute hand points at 9, which is 45 minutes. The time is 3:45, or quarter to 4. Count by fives from 12: 5, 10, 15 … 45.
Watch for this
Reading the hour hand as exact — saying 4 o'clock when it is 3:50 — is common near the hour. Teach 'the hour hand has not reached the next number yet.'
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Same facts, played
A short game that drills the same idea after the page is printed.