Telling the time

Kia ora, everyone! How do we know when it's time for school, or time for lunch? We read a clock!

A clock has two hands. The short hand is the hour hand. The long hand is the minute hand. Both hands always turn the same way. We call it clockwise.

When the long hand points straight up to twelve, we say o'clock. Then the short hand tells us the hour. It points to three, so it's three o'clock!

Now watch closely. The minute hand goes all the way around, and one whole hour passes. But the hour hand only creeps from three, to four. Four o'clock!

Now the long hand goes halfway around, down to six. Half the clock is filled in. That's half past! And look, the short hand is halfway between four and five. So it's half past four.

Ready for a challenge? When the long hand points to three, a quarter of the clock is filled. That's quarter past. When it points to nine, there's just one quarter left. That's quarter to!

Let's follow a school day. School might start at nine o'clock. Lunch could be at half past twelve. And home time is three o'clock. Ka pai!

So remember! The short hand shows the hour. The long hand shows the minutes. Long hand on twelve is o'clock, and long hand on six is half past.