How to teach telling time, one hand at a time

Telling time looks like one skill and is really three: reading the hour hand, counting the minute hand by fives, and holding both at once. Children struggle when all three arrive together. Taught one at a time, most get it in a few weeks.

Step 1: the hour hand alone

Take the minute hand out of the picture. Use a toy clock and remove it, or cover it with a finger. "The short hand is pointing at the 4. It is about four o'clock." When the short hand is between two numbers, it is after the smaller one: between the 4 and the 5 is "after four."

Lifehack: say "about" on purpose. "It's about four" is the right answer for an hour hand alone, and it makes the minute hand feel like the thing that makes it exact.

Step 2: o'clock and half past

Bring the minute hand back, but only at the top and the bottom. At the 12, it is o'clock. At the 6, it is half past, and the hour hand is halfway between two numbers. This is the first-grade standard (1.MD.3), and it is worth staying here until it is easy.

Step 3: counting by fives

The minute hand needs a different kind of reading: every number is five more minutes. Count around the face together — 5, 10, 15, 20 — then let the child count while you point. Quarter past and quarter to belong here: a quarter of the way around is 15 minutes.

Step 4: both hands together

Now read the hour first, then the minutes: "The short hand is past the 2, the long hand is on the 7 — 2:35." Second graders are expected to read to five minutes (2.MD.7); third graders to the exact minute (3.MD.1).

Step 5: turn it around

Reading a clock and setting one are different skills. Once reading is easy, switch to drawing the hands for a time. It is harder — the hour hand has to sit in the right place between two numbers — and it is what makes the skill stick.

Our Telling Time generator has a sheet for each step: read the clock, draw the hands, match clocks to digital times, time in words, and elapsed time, each at the hour-and-half-hour, five-minute or minute level.

The mistakes to expect

• Hands read backwards — "five o'clock" for 1:25. Name the hands by job, and color them.
• The hour too early — at 2:50 the short hand is almost on the 3, and children say "three-fifty." Ask: "Has it reached the 3 yet?"
• Counting minutes by ones — the minute hand on the 4 read as "4 minutes." Go back to counting by fives.

A few clocks every day beat a long session once a week. For a game that does the practice for you, see Clock Bingo; for a.m. and p.m., see a.m. and p.m. explained.