Time Across Aotearoa

Overview

In this 60-minute lesson, learners read and represent analogue and digital times to five minutes, use am and pm, sequence events and calculate duration. They build on previous work with o’clock, half past and five-minute intervals, using clocks, clock lines, visual schedules and a movement-based timetable journey.

Learning intentions

• WALT read and write analogue and digital time to five minutes.
• WALT use am and pm to describe when events happen.
• WALT sequence events and calculate durations across an hour.
• WALT explain our thinking using clocks, number lines and timetables.

Success criteria

• I can write a time such as quarter past 4 as 4:15.
• I can read the minute hand and hour hand accurately.
• I can find how long an event lasts.
• I can create and explain a 45-minute journey using a timetable.

Curriculum links

• Mathematics and Statistics — Mathsteasers: challenging questions that deepen mathematical understanding.
• Mathematics and Statistics — Mathsteasers alignment: connecting challenge tasks with relevant mathematical learning.
• Mathematics and Statistics — Mathsteasers additional resources for advanced learners: reasoning, problem-solving and explaining strategies.
• Mathematical practices: represent, connect, reason, communicate and justify mathematical ideas.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Hook and diagnostic. Display a school-day timetable using the hook and timetable slides and ask, “Could a bus leave at 10:50 and arrive 25 minutes later at 10:75?” Students discuss with a partner, then show the time on fingers or mini-clocks; listen for misconceptions about the hour hand and minutes beyond 60.

2. 5–15 min · Model reading time. Use a teaching clock and the time-model slides to review five-minute intervals, am/pm and the gradual movement of the hour hand. Model 2:35 to 3:00: count 25 minutes to the next hour, rather than reading the hour hand as already pointing exactly at 3; students make 2:35, 2:50 and 3:00 on their clocks and explain what changes.

3. 15–25 min · Guided timetable reasoning. Display a visual schedule and clock line from the guided-practice slides. Work through 9:15 to 9:45, recording the jumps 9:15 to 9:30 and 9:30 to 9:45, then solve 10:50 + 25 minutes = 11:15. Students use clocks or a clock line to solve two similar examples, explaining whether they counted on to the next hour or counted in five-minute jumps.

4. 25–40 min · Timetable Journey activity. Organise five groups of five and give each group a different starting point on the classroom “journey”. Open the Timetable Journey instruction slides and establish movement rules: read the displayed time, move safely to the next station, and state the departure, arrival and duration. At each station, students solve a timetable card or teacher-displayed prompt, including the Must Do: write quarter past 4 as 4:15. Rotate groups every three minutes while the teacher checks clock-hand accuracy and asks, “How do you know the hour hand is between the numbers?”

5. 40–52 min · Independent application. Distribute the time and timetables practice worksheet. Students complete tasks reading analogue and digital times, matching am/pm events, sequencing a visual schedule and finding duration. The Can Do task is to find the duration from 1:20 to 1:50. Early finishers complete the Try task: create a 45-minute journey with a departure time, arrival time, two events and a clear explanation of how the duration was calculated.

6. 52–60 min · Share, assess and reflect. Use the discussion and exit slides to reveal selected answers and invite students to compare strategies. Students complete the final reflection on the worksheet: “One useful strategy is…” and answer the exit question, “How long is it from 9:15 to 9:45?”; share the answer and reasoning before packing up.

Resources

• Teaching clocks, one per pair
• Mini whiteboards and pens
• Large clock face or projected clock
• the complete time and timetable slide deck
• the time and timetables practice worksheet
• Visual school-day schedule
• Clock-line display or board-drawn number line
• Timetable Journey station signs
• Timer and pencils

Assessment

• During modelling, check whether learners count minutes correctly across an hour and understand that the hour hand moves gradually.
• During the journey, question individuals: “What is the start time?”, “What is the end time?” and “How did you calculate the duration?” Record learners needing further support.
• Check the worksheet, including the key answers 9:15 to 9:45 = 30 minutes and 10:50 + 25 minutes = 11:15. Use the exit response to group learners for the next lesson.

Differentiation

• Support learners with a large teaching clock, colour-coded hour and minute hands, a five-minute counting strip and the sentence frame: “It starts at ___, finishes at ___, so it lasts ___ minutes.”
• Keep learners who need support within one hour before introducing am/pm changes; rehearse times orally and allow partner counting in five-minute jumps.
• For EAL learners, pair spoken language with icons for starts, finishes, before, after, morning and afternoon; demonstrate each instruction before the journey begins.
• Extend confident learners by asking them to design a journey with a stop across the hour, justify why the hour hand cannot jump, or find two different journeys lasting 45 minutes.