Time to the Minute Background Information for Teachers, Parents and Caregivers

This page provides information to support educators and families in teaching K-3 students about telling time to the minute. It is designed to complement the Time to the Minute topic page on BrainPOP Jr.

In this movie, Annie and Moby explore how to tell time to the minute. We highly recommend reviewing the other movies in the Time unit before screening this one, especially Time to the Hour. Telling time to the minute can be confusing at first for some children, so we recommend plenty of encouragement and practice. Offer opportunities throughout the day where children can read the clock and tell and write the time.

Remind children that a clock has a shorter hour hand and a longer minute hand. As the minute hand goes around the clock, the hour hand moves from one number to the next. It takes sixty minutes, or one hour, for the minute hand to go all the way around the clock. Point to the numbers 1 and 2 on an analog clock and have children count the minute marks between the numbers. Explain that it takes five minutes for the minute hand to move from one number to the next. So, they can skip-count by fives to count the minutes. Practice skip-counting by fives up to sixty together.

Use an analog clock to show 7:10. Show how the hour hand points to the seven and the minute hand points to the 2. To count the number of minutes past the hour, we can skip-count the numbers by five: five, ten. So the time is 7:10. Use the clock to model telling other times, such as 12:20 and 4:55. Be sure that children note how the hour hand changes as the minute hand moves. By the time the minute hand gets to the six, which is halfway around the clock, the hour hand is halfway to the next hour.

Next, show the time 8:33 on a clock. Have children consider what they already know to help them read the time. They should understand that when the minute hand is on the 6, it is half past the hour, or thirty minutes past the hour. Since the minute hand is actually three minutes past the 6, they can count on 3 minutes: 31, 32, 33. Practice telling other times together, such as 3:46 and 9:17 and model using the marked numbers around the clock. Then show a time such as 8:29 and explain that they can start at the marked number 5 to begin counting at 25 minutes and count on 4 minutes, or they can start at the marked number 6 and say 30 minutes, then count back 1 minute.

Encourage children to practice and find faster ways to tell time using landmark numbers. Telling time to the minute might be frustrating for some children. Help allay their anxieties. It takes practice and time!