Measurement
Telling the Time: O'clock, Half Past, Days, Months, and Seasons
Year 1 · Year 2
- ✓By the end of this lesson students will be able to tell the time to the hour, using 'o'clock'.
- ✓By the end of this lesson students will be able to tell the time to the half hour, using 'half past'.
- ✓By the end of this lesson students will be able to recall the days of the week in order.
- ✓By the end of this lesson students will be able to recall the months of the year in order.
- ✓By the end of this lesson students will be able to name the four seasons and understand their sequence.
Key concepts
A clock face is a circle with numbers from 1 to 12 around the edge. It has two main hands: a long hand and a short hand. The long hand is called the minute hand, and the short hand is called the hour hand. The minute hand tells us the minutes, and the hour hand tells us the hour.
When the time is 'o'clock', the long minute hand always points exactly to the number 12. The short hour hand points exactly to the number of the hour. For example, if the short hand points to 3 and the long hand points to 12, it is 3 o'clock.
When the time is 'half past' an hour, the long minute hand always points exactly to the number 6. The short hour hand will be halfway between two numbers. For example, if the long hand points to 6 and the short hand is halfway between 3 and 4, it is half past 3. This means 30 minutes have passed since 3 o'clock.
There are 7 days in a week. They always follow the same order: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. The school week usually starts on Monday.
There are 12 months in a year. They always follow the same order: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
There are 4 seasons in a year, and they follow each other in a cycle: Spring, Summer, Autumn (sometimes called Fall), and Winter. Each season has different weather and things happening in nature, like flowers blooming in Spring or snow in Winter.
Key facts to remember
- 1A clock face has numbers from 1 to 12.
- 2The long hand is the minute hand, and the short hand is the hour hand.
- 3When the minute hand points to 12, it is 'o'clock'.
- 4When the minute hand points to 6, it is 'half past'.
- 5There are 7 days in a week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
- 6There are 12 months in a year, starting with January and ending with December.
- 7There are 4 seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.
- 8The seasons repeat in the same order every year.
Worked examples
Example 1
What time is shown on a clock where the long minute hand points to 12 and the short hour hand points to 7?
Answer
7 o'clock
Remember, the minute hand at 12 always means 'o'clock'.
Example 2
What time is shown on a clock where the long minute hand points to 6 and the short hour hand is halfway between 10 and 11?
Answer
Half past 10
For 'half past', the hour hand points to the number of the hour that has just finished, not the next hour.
Example 3
Put these days in the correct order, starting with the first day of the school week: Wednesday, Monday, Friday, Tuesday, Thursday.
Answer
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Learning a song or rhyme can help you remember the order of the days and months easily.
Common mistakes
- ✗Confusing the hour hand and the minute hand, especially if they are similar in length.
- ✗For 'half past', saying the next hour instead of the hour that has just passed (e.g., saying 'half past 4' when the hour hand is between 3 and 4).
- ✗Mixing up the order of days of the week or months of the year.
- ✗Forgetting that the minute hand at 12 means 'o'clock' and at 6 means 'half past'.
Exam tips
- ★Always look carefully at both the long (minute) hand and the short (hour) hand on a clock.
- ★Practise telling the time on real clocks, toy clocks, and drawing your own clock faces.
- ★Learn the days of the week and months of the year by singing a song or saying a rhyme to help you remember the order.
- ★When telling 'half past' times, remember the hour hand points to the hour that has just finished.
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