Telling Time to the Hour

The Hands of Time

The long hand is the minute hand.

The short hand is the hour hand.

The Hands of Time

There are 60 minutes on a clock face. Skip count by fives to count the minutes with me.

5

1510

25

20

3035

6055

4045

50

The Hands of Time

Count the numerals on the clock. There are only 12 hours on a clock face. So, the hour hand is a short hand.

“Minute” is a long word. The minute hand is the longer hand.

“Hour” is a short word. The hour hand is the shorter hand.

hour

When the minute hand is pointing to 12, read the time as “o’clock”. In this case, the hour hand is pointing to the 3 and it is “three o’clock”.

Now the minute hand is pointing to 12 and the hour hand is pointing to the 5. So, we read the time as

“five o’clock”.

Four Quarters

• If we were to slice the clock into 4 equal sections, we would have 4 QUARTERS. Each quarter would represent a 15 minute section.

A Quarter After

• When the minute hand is pointing to the numeral 3, we say that the time is “A quarter after/past _____.” Here, the clock shows a quarter past seven, or 7:15.

A Quarter Til/To

• When the minute hand is pointing to the numeral 9, we say that the time is “A quarter til/to _____.” Here, the clock shows a quarter to five, or 4:45.

Half Past

• When the minute hand is pointing to the numeral 6, we say that the time is “Half past _____.” Here, the clock shows half past 2, or 2:30. Notice how the hour hand is half-way in between the 2 and the 3.

AM/PM

• 12:00 AM is MIDNIGHT (We are sleeping)• 12:00 PM is NOON (lunchtime)• When we say AM, we are referring to the

hours before NOON.• When we say PM, we are referring to the

hours past NOON.

Important Facts About Time

• 60 seconds= 1 minute• 60 minutes= 1 hour• 24 hours= 1 day• 30 minutes= 1 half hour• 15 minutes= 1 quarter hour

The End