Time and the clock — introduction

In Grade 2 you read the clock to the half hour and quarter hour. This year you take three big steps:

• read the clock to the minute,
• compute how much time elapsed between two times,
• convert between hours and minutes.

You'll also learn the order of the days of the week and months of the year.

Two hands, two stories

A clock has two hands:

• The short hand tells the hour.
• The long hand tells the minutes.

When the long hand is on 3, it means 15 minutes past the hour (because each big number on the clock is 5 minutes apart).

Why time matters

Time is everywhere — when school starts, how long lunch is, when you can play. Once you can read the clock to the minute, you can plan your day yourself.

What you'll learn here

• Reading the clock — five-minute marks, then any minute.
• Elapsed time — start, plus minutes, what time now?
• Conversion and calendar — hours ↔ minutes, days, months.
• For parents — how to help at home.

Try it

• 🕐 Clock to 5 minutes — read time at 5-minute marks
• 🕘 Clock to the minute — full precision
• ⏳ Elapsed time — start + minutes = end
• 🔄 Hours and minutes — convert
• 📅 Days and months — calendar order

Summary

• Short hand = hour, long hand = minutes.
• 1 hour = 60 minutes.
• 1 day = 24 hours; 1 week = 7 days; 1 year = 12 months.

Reading the clock →