Common Core Standards for telling time and a fun game to help your students get there!

As we transition from our state standards to the common core, I keep hearing teachers ask, "Do we still have to do this" or "What grade is that in?"

One thing that hasn't changed for our state is when we need to teach telling time.  Here are the common core standards for telling time at grades 1-3

CCSS.Math.Content.1.MD.B.3 Tell and write time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks.

CCSS.Math.Content.2.MD.C.7 Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes, using a.m. and p.m.

CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.A.1 Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals in minutes, e.g., by representing the problem on a number line diagram.

So grade 1 is time to the hour and half hour, grade 2 is time to the five minutes and grade 3 is time to the minute.

We have been working hard in second grade on telling time to the five minutes (and even some time to the minute thrown in there!)  What kids were still struggling with was when we gave them a blank clock and asked them to draw the clock hands for a given time.  The hour hand in particular was never in the right spot.    I wanted to give kids more practice with placing the hands on a manipulative based clock before going back to drawing hands on paper.  So I got out the mini geared clocks and some time dice I had on a shelf and made up a simple (but very effective!) game.


First I demonstrated with our large floor clock

The time dice get rolled and then students use their clock to build that time.  Here is a simple example

This game is great played with the whole class at first and also after they know how to play as a partner or center game.  Here is an example of what I was seeing on their paper practice and why I made this game

The time is 10:30.  Look at where the hour hand is placed on each clock.  A lot of my students were placing it where it is on the clock on the right; pointing directly at the ten!  This game has helped them so much with where to place the hour hand.

Examples like these when we played with the entire class brought forth great discussions about where the hour hand goes.  Now my students are paying attention to this detail.

Some of my students breezed through this game and were ready for more of a challenge.  I changed their dice so that they were playing to the minute.  Here is a look

Even though time to the minute is a third grade standard, many of my students were ready to go there.  This is such an easy game to differentiate!

We played this game as a whole class and with partners and then as a warm-up to math one day.  To make the leap from this game to pencil/paper type tasks, the final time I asked kids to play this, I gave them a sheet of blank clock faces to use as a record sheet and after they and their partner agreed on the positions of the hands using the Judy clocks, they recorded it on their record sheet.  

This morning, students were asked to do a similar task to the one that inspired this game and they did very well!   I will definitely be adding this game to my centers for the end of the year and will be using it again next year!

I also use these number puzzles to practice telling time and many other skills!

Here are some ways I get first graders to meet Common Core standards for telling time.

Here are some You Tube videos and songs I use when teaching time

What activities do you use to help your students learn time?