For 1st grade, what assignments woud a teacher might give to obtain their objectives about how to tell time?

Answer 1

I teach time in Spanish and French. I give the kids a cheap paper plate (they can flatten out and fit in their folder) and they make a clock.

Even the high school kids have a hard time putting the numbers on right. I tell them to start with a 12 and then put a 6 directly below it on the bottom. Then I tell them to put a 3 in the middle and a 9 directly across from that. Then they are able to line up the other numbers correctly.

I have a clock that I can place on my overhead. I state a time and they adjust their clocks and hold them up for me to see. Then I set my clock for the correct time and they can compare. I start with 1, 2, etc. Then I move to half past. Then I add a quarter after and a quarter till. I start to mix them up and they catch on quickly. You probably will not be surprised to know that I actually have to teach the kids how to tell time on a clock before we can do this activity. All of their homes have digital clocks.

I have some blank clocks that I drew (I also found a blank clock stamp). I give them paper and I state a time and then they draw in the hands. I also will sometimes give them a written time and they draw in the hands. That is how I test them, but I also do it for practice.

We also do board races. They kids go to the board and I state a time and they write it digitally. Since that would not work if you are doing English you could have them draw a clock with the hands and the first one done gets a point for their team.

Answer 2

I think that having first graders create their own "clocks" (construction paper cut outs with functioning hands) could be a great way to get the students interested in telling time. Constructing the clock itself gives students an idea about how time works- they must paste the numbers in order, which obviously only go up to 12. When they are finished constructing the clocks, you can then introduce them to hour time (have them show you what 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, etc. looks like). Gradually move them to the half hour, explaining how each number represents 5 minutes. Having them work with something hands on usually encourages and speeds up learning. Hope this helps.