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Learn to tell time
Reading a clock
Let's learn to tell time on an analog clock
First, on this clock, there are to hands. Some clocks have three hands but let’s first focus on clocks with two hands.
Clocks always spin from right to left which is called clockwise.
The small hand on a clock is for the hour.
There are 24 hours in a day.
When reading time, start with the shortest hand which represents the hour.
What if the short hand is between numbers. It will be the time the small hour hand just passed.
1 o'clock
3 o'clock
6 o'clock
Now let’s talk about the large hand.
The large hand tells you the minutes.
There are 60 minutes in an hour.
First, each number is equal to 5
So it is 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 and the last number is two zeros, not 60,
and you call it o’clock.
Use these 3 steps in order to make reading time easy.
Step 1. Start at the small hand and look where the shorthand is pointing and write this down.
Step 2. Draw two dots
Step 3. Read the large hand and write this number down
Let’s practice
The small hand is on 5
Write a 5 then two dots then 20
Remember you always use two numbers
5:20
Some clocks will have three hands.
The third hand tells you the seconds.
There are 60 seconds in a minute.
The seconds hand moves quickly, and will sometimes be a different color like red, or may be thinner than the hour and minute hand.
Use these 5 steps in order to make reading time easy on a clock with three hands.
Step 1. start at the small hand look where the short hand is pointing and write this down.
Step 2. Draw two dots
Step 3. Read the large hand
Step 4. Draw two dots
Step 5. Read the second hand
Look at the clock above.
The small hand is on 10
Write two dots
The large hand is at 10
write a 10
Write 2 zeros
The second hand is on 25 so write twenty 25
10:10:25
If you live in the United States,Canada, or Australia, you use a 12 hour system for telling time.
If you look at this clock it is 7 o’clock.
However is this 7 o’clock in the morning or 7 o’clock at night. This is where am and pm help.
The 12-hour system divides the 24 hours of a day into two periods lasting 12 hours each.
The first 12-hour period is designated as am. It runs from midnight to noon. The second period, marked pm, covers the 12 hours from noon to midnight.
AM comes from the latin phrase ante meridiem, which translates to, before midday
and p.m. from the latin phrase post meridiem which translates to, past midday.
There are 24 hours in a day, this requires the hour hand to pass the 12 twice.
Most often midnight is considered the start of a new day.
Midnight is classified as 12:00 AM.
The hours after midnight and before noon are written with am
These 12 hours start late at night then transition to early morning.
3 am is late at night, but 7 am is when many people are waking up.
12 pm is considered midday or noon.
The hours between noon and midnight are written with pm.
These hours start during sunlight and end in darkness
Let's apply what we have learned.
Drew wakes up in order to go to school at 7:00 o’ clock
Would you use am or pm?
Drew wakes up after midnight and before noon so you would use am.
Adam’s favorite restaurant stops serving dinner at 8:00 o'clock
Would you use am or pm?
Dinner time is after midday or noon but before midnight so you would use pm.
The sun rises at 6:00 and sets at 7:00 Which would you use?
The sun rises after midnight and before noon so use 6:00 am and the sun sets after noon and before midnight so use 7:00 pm.