Telling time?

My child is ten and still has trouble with time but the “Saxon” math we are doing with tutor is helping with time, days, weeks, months. There are many times the tutor has to repeat the question because child did not fully understand that she asked for the month not day or wanted an answer in the future not the past. One thing I want to do is make a clock with just the short hour hand and have my child get use to reading that so the child sees if the short hand is after the number it is that hour and if it is halfway between that number and the next then it is half past or 30 minutes.She gets mixed up with the two different hands forgetting one is for hour the other for minutes. With everything else I am doing it is hard to get to some of this stuff done, so I know what you mean. I haven’t done any intervention except our reading tutor is doing the balance board. We are still doing “Great Leaps” in which I keep track of how she is doing but have not noticed any constant correlation that the balance board is effecting her reading output. We are not seeing the tutor for 2 weeks so it will be interesting to see if there is any difference when she resumes the balance board so far I have not been impressed but my tutor has been. It is a nice break for my child during her session but I may be wanting to attend to something else especially since her school hasn’t gotten their reading program together yet.

How to tell time lesson from another post that might help.

First, I went to a primary teacher and found a nice clock with hands and put a brad to fasten it in the middle for each kid. I put it on card stock and laminated them.

I start by talking about the short hand. I put a great big green mark. Green means GO, start here.

The short guy can only count to 12 and since he can’t count as high as the Tall hand guy, the short guy (hour hand) gets to go first almost always.

So for the first 5 minutes we only say the o’clock. I draw a great big clock on the dry erase board and take a ruler in my hand as the hand. I start by pointing it to numbers. I say, anytime the short hand points in-between two numbers, IT ALWAYS SAYS THE younger number. So if the hand is in-between the 3 and 4, it is 3 o’clock. We stay here until firm chanting, 3 o’clock 3 o’clock, 3 o’clock and move the hand to the 4. DING DING DING. Oh, when it points exactly to the 4 we now announce 4 o’clock 4 o’clock 4 o’clock. Do this for several numbers and model. I take my green dry erase marker and draw a thick line from the 3 to just before the 4 and say this is the 3 o’clock area. It is 3 o’clock until it is EXACTLY pointing to the next number. The younger number has a huge space. The space after the number belongs to the number all the way until it clicks to the next number.

I do this for several numbers to model. Now, I give each kid their own clock. They take a marker and dot the short hand with green overhead marker. Green is the cue to go.

So we practice the short hand first not talking about the long hand yet. We only talk about the o’clock.
”ok, class, make your clock say 4 something. ….check….great, now make your clock say 6 something. Etc.. Go back to board and check for understanding.

Now, they have the o’clock down. We are now ready to introduce the Tall guy. This guy is red. He is much smarter and older. He can count all the way to 59. He loves to count by 5’s. too because he loves a short cut. For today, we are going to take the short cut and just count by 5’s. Tomorrow, I’ll show you the long way. I just don’t have time to get there all in one lesson.

So, this tall guy is longer because he has to reach the minute marker.

I now have them take a red overhead pen and write the 5’s on the face of the clock.

Tomorrow we will write all the numbers to 59, but for today the short cut.

So you then always start with the short guy and end with the long guy.

Say the short number which is the hour then the long one.

I just did this lesson 2 days ago. All my ld kids can tell time. I wrote a note to the parents telling them to ask the kids to use an analog clock often so the kid will not forget. Every so often I will ask them to tell time.

Then, you remove all the color. Make them tell time without the clues.

It works for me every time. I hope this made sense. After a week of practice and it is firm, you can go in to the quarter to, quarter after, half past etc.. Again, incorporate color. Shade the whole quarter a certain color. Take out some circle fraction pieces to make this work. They will get it when you use the fraction color pieces. It really is a quarter. Tell them a quarter is one fourth, just like money. They usually understand money and quarters, (not always)

You can take those big water noodles for the swimming pool and use them as hands on clock. Get a red one and yellow (or use towels) and make a huge human clock to see and be the clock.

Michelle AZ

Thanks for the detailed responses. My son is 11, and in 5th grade. He’s been through reading an analogue clock several times - and has gotten 100 on tests and homework. But he has either forgotten or can’t translate paper worksheets to a real clock face.

I’ll go through the steps with him again, and we’ll see if it sticks this time.

Thanks again,
Lil

My daughter, gifted in many other fields including math, finally started reading an analog clock at age *twenty*. She’s still extremely slow at it. I don’t know why this is so very difficult for her. I do know that the present school curriculum presents teling time far, far too early — it is totally inappropriate for 90% of students in Grades 1 and 2, who do not have enough of a concept of time for this to make any sense to them. Most just fill in the worksheet to please the teacher and let it run off them like water off a duck’s back; then in Grade 3 or so they get the same lesson over and actually learn it. However, some get a buildup of fear and frustration over the issue, and it gets more and more difficult the more you try to teach it.
The recommended system above of teaching only the hour hand first and working step by step is definitely, absolutely the way to go. But I’d say go even more slowly; take six months or a year if necessary. After all, it’s better to spend a year succeeding even if slowly, than to rush through a program every year and fail it repeatedly.

Lil,
Get the book “One Hand at a Time.” I can’t remember the author’s name, but it is available (or used to be at least) on Amazon. It is paperback so it is not very expensive. It take time telling step by step, starting with just the hour hand. It has lots of physical exercises as well as worksheets. Two years ago I spent 45 minutes a day doing the book’s activities with my then 11 year old son who was totally hopeless on time. After 10 or 12 days he could tell time accurately. This is a marvelous book recommended here several years ago by Robin G., a teacher who used to post. Now if only I could get my son to have a sense of time!

Mariedc

Thanks, Mariedc

I totally understand about “Now if only I could get my son to have a sense of time!” Hopefully this book will get my son closer! :-)

Lil