Time - Telling the time to 5 minutes - Planning

In the Year 3 summer term, students embark on a week-long journey to master telling the time to five-minute intervals. The lesson plan is equipped with interactive clocks, mini clocks, worksheets, and a presentation to facilitate learning. Students begin with a quick review of basic time concepts such as hours in a day, days in a week, and the special names for quarter past and half past. The class then moves on to practical activities using an interactive clock to count in fives and identify 'past' times. This step is crucial as it helps children understand that the minute hand's position determines the minutes past the hour, while 15 and 30 minutes past are known as quarter past and half past, respectively. As confidence grows, the hour hand is introduced, and students learn to distinguish between 'past' and 'to' times, eventually combining both hands to tell the full time.

With a focus on independent learning, the lesson progresses with differentiated worksheets that challenge students to practise making times on clocks and to correct common errors, such as confusing the minute and hour hands. Reasoning activities encourage verbal explanations, reinforcing the concept with phrases like "I know it's... because..." The lesson addresses misconceptions, such as incorrect positioning of the hour hand and differentiating between the sizes of the hour and minute hands. By the end of the week, students aim to confidently read and record time to five-minute intervals, both in words and digits, and understand the significance of 'past' and 'to' times, ensuring a solid foundation in time-telling skills.