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1st Grade · 2nd Grade · 1.MD.B.3 · 2.MD.C.7

Telling time in 1st and 2nd grade

Telling time means reading a clock and saying or writing the time it shows. In 1st grade, your child learns telling time to the hour and half hour. In 2nd grade, your child reads the time to the nearest 5 minutes and adds a.m. and p.m.

What the standards say

The official Common Core wording, quoted exactly. The plain version follows.

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

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

What it means, in plain words

Telling time in 1st grade: hours and half hours 1.MD.B.3

There are two kinds of clocks. An analog clock has a round face with the numbers 1 to 12 and two hands. A digital clock shows the time in numbers only, such as 9:30. Your child reads both.

The short hand is the hour hand, and the long hand is the minute hand. When the minute hand points straight up at the 12, the time is on the hour, such as 9:00 ("nine o'clock"). When the minute hand points straight down at the 6, the time is half past the hour, such as 9:30.

Telling the time to the half hour has one tricky part. At 9:30, the hour hand is halfway between the 9 and the 10, not on the 9. Your child reads the hour from the number the hour hand has just passed.

Your child should be able to:

  • Tell the short hour hand from the long minute hand
  • Read and write a time on the hour, such as 5:00, from an analog or a digital clock
  • Read and write a time on the half hour, such as 5:30
  • Say the times as "o'clock" and "half past"

Example

On a clock, the minute hand points at the 6 and the hour hand is halfway between the 4 and the 5. What time is it?

  1. The minute hand on the 6 means half past the hour, so the minutes are 30.
  2. The hour hand has passed the 4 but not reached the 5, so the hour is 4.
  3. The time is 4:30, or half past four.

Telling time in 2nd grade: to 5 minutes, with a.m. and p.m. 2.MD.C.7

Telling time to 5 minutes uses a new skill: counting by 5s around the clock. Each number on the clock face stands for 5 more minutes. The minute hand on the 1 means 5 minutes past the hour, on the 2 means 10 minutes and on the 3 means 15 minutes. The pattern goes on to 55 minutes at the 11.

The labels a.m. and p.m. tell which half of the day it is. Times from midnight to noon, the morning, are a.m. Times from noon to midnight, the afternoon and evening, are p.m. Many clocks print them as AM and PM, so your child also sees times like 7:45 PM on an oven clock.

Your child should be able to:

  • Count by 5s around the clock to read the minutes
  • Read and write a time such as 2:35 from an analog or a digital clock
  • Read the hour correctly when the hour hand sits between two numbers
  • Choose a.m. or p.m. for everyday events, such as dinner or the walk home from school

Example

The minute hand points at the 4 and the hour hand is a little past the 10. What time is it?

  1. Count by 5s from the 12 to the minute hand: 5, 10, 15, 20. That is 20 minutes.
  2. The hour hand has passed the 10 but not reached the 11, so the hour is 10.
  3. The time is 10:20, said "ten twenty".

Example

A family eats dinner when the clock shows 6:15. Is that 6:15 a.m. or 6:15 p.m.?

  1. Dinner happens in the evening.
  2. The evening comes between noon and midnight, so it is p.m.
  3. Dinner is at 6:15 p.m.

Where children usually get stuck

  • At 10:30, your child says 11:30. The hour hand is halfway between the 10 and the 11, and your child picks the 11.

    On the hour, the hour hand points right at a number. The child expects that all the time and does not know the hand moves slowly through the whole hour.

    What helps. Turn the hands of a toy clock, or a paper plate clock, slowly from 10:00 to 11:00 together. Watch the hour hand creep from one number to the next.

  • With the minute hand on the 4, your child writes 8:04 instead of 8:20.

    The numbers on the clock face are hours. The minutes are not printed, so the child reads the 4 as 4 minutes instead of four jumps of 5.

    What helps. Write 5, 10, 15 and so on in small numbers around the outside of a paper plate clock. Leave them there until counting by 5s comes easily.

  • When the hour hand points at the 2 and the minute hand at the 12, your child says 12:10.

    The child mixed up the two hands. The long hand was read as the hour and the short hand as the minutes.

    What helps. Make a paper plate clock with a short hand and a long hand in two colors. Say "short hand, hour" each time you set a time.

Try four practice questions

Real 1st grade questions from our question bank, easiest first. Answer them right here, check each one, and see a worked solution for any question.

  1. 1Warm-up
    Look at the clock and what Liam wrote.
    Liam wrote: 6:00.
    Pick the best statement.
    A
    Liam wrote the correct time.
    B
    Liam wrote the wrong hour.
    C
    Liam wrote o'clock instead of half past.
    D
    Liam wrote half past instead of o'clock.
    Show the answer and how to solve it

    The clock shows 6:00 and Liam wrote 6:00. Both parts match, so Liam wrote the correct time.

    1. 1Read the digital clock. It shows 6:00.
    2. 2Liam wrote 6:00. The hour matches — the clock shows 6 and Liam wrote 6. The minutes match — the clock shows :00 and Liam wrote :00.
    3. 3Both parts match, so Liam wrote the correct time.

    The idea underneath. A digital time has two parts — the hour AND the minutes. To check if a written time matches the clock, you have to look at both parts.

  2. 2On level
    Pouring milk on your cereal at the kitchen table. Does this happen in the a.m. or p.m.?
    A
    a.m.
    B
    p.m.
    Show the answer and how to solve it

    The answer is a.m. because pouring milk on cereal is a morning activity, and morning hours are in the a.m. half of the day.

    1. 1a.m. is the time from midnight until noon — these are the morning hours. p.m. is the time from noon until midnight — these are the afternoon and evening hours.
    2. 2Pouring milk on cereal is a breakfast activity. Breakfast happens in the morning, before school and before noon.
    3. 3Morning is in the a.m. So pouring milk on cereal happens in the a.m.

    Common mistake. A common mistake is mixing up a.m. and p.m. because the letters look similar. Remember: a.m. is the time from midnight until noon (morning hours), and p.m. is the time from noon until midnight (afternoon and evening hours).

    The idea underneath. The day is split into two halves at noon. Morning activities are in the a.m. half; afternoon, evening, and night activities are in the p.m. half.

  3. 3On level
    Liam looked at the clock below and gave his answer.
    Clock:
    123456789101112
    Liam's answer: 3:00
    Choose the statement that best describes Liam's answer.
    A
    Liam read the minutes wrong.
    B
    Liam read the wrong hand.
    C
    Liam read the time correctly.
    D
    Liam read the hour wrong.
    Show the answer and how to solve it

    The actual time is 3:00 because the hour hand is on 3 and the minute hand is on 12. Liam wrote 3:00, getting both the hour and the minutes right. So 'Liam read the time correctly.' is correct.

    1. 1Look at the clock. The hour hand is on 3, and the minute hand is on 12. The time is 3:00.
    2. 2Compare Liam's answer (3:00) to the actual time (3:00). The hour digits match (both are 3), and the minutes match (both are :00).
    3. 3Since Liam's answer matches the clock exactly, 'Liam read the time correctly.' is correct.

    Common mistake. It is important to check both hands carefully even when an answer looks right.

    The idea underneath. When the minute hand points to 12, the time is on the hour (:00). When the minute hand points to 6, the time is half past (:30).

  4. 4Stretch
    Select all the sentences where a.m. is the correct label.
    A
    I wake up at 6:30.
    B
    I eat breakfast at 7:00.
    C
    I eat dinner at 5:30.
    D
    I eat lunch at 12:00.
    Show the answer and how to solve it

    The two a.m. sentences are 'I wake up at 6:30.' and 'I eat breakfast at 7:00.' Both activities happen in the morning.

    1. 1Read each sentence. Think about when each activity happens during the day.
    2. 2Wake up at 6:30 — you wake up in the morning, so this is a.m. Select this sentence.
    3. 3Eat lunch at 12:00 — 12:00 is noon, which is the very beginning of the p.m. half of the day. Do not select this sentence.
    4. 4Eat breakfast at 7:00 — breakfast happens in the morning, so this is a.m. Select this sentence.
    5. 5Eat dinner at 5:30 — dinner is in the evening, after school ends, so this is p.m. Do not select this sentence.

    Common mistake. A common mistake is selecting 'I eat lunch at 12:00.' because the number 12 looks like it could be an early morning hour. But 12:00 is noon — the start of p.m. Another mistake is skipping 'I eat dinner at 5:30.' for the same reason; dinner at 5:30 is in the evening and is p.m., not a.m.

    The idea underneath. The activity tells you whether the time is morning (a.m.) or evening (p.m.) — the clock numbers alone don't say which half of the day it is.