Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8

Year 4 · Measures, time and graphs

Telling the time on any clock

Read, write and convert time between analogue and digital 12- and 24-hour clocks

20 minutes4 checks6 exit questionsNational curriculum objective

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Read, write and convert time between analogue and digital 12- and 24-hour clocks

Key learning points

  • • The two hands
  • • am and pm
  • • Going 24-hour
  • • Working out how long

This lesson at a glance

  • 20 minutes
  • 19 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • No marked quiz yet
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

convertanaloguedigitalclocks

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Silent film

Watch first

Telling the time on any clock

Measuring round the edge, covering the inside, then reading the clock.

Read the film in words (English) ↓

What the film shows

  1. A finger traces the edge of a rectangle while the perimeter total counts up.
  2. The same rectangle fills with unit squares to show its area.
  3. Units convert on screen: centimetres to metres, grams to kilograms, millilitres to litres.
  4. A 12-hour clock and a 24-hour clock show the same moment side by side, then a bar chart is read off.
  5. The perimeter and unit-swap practicals for this unit repeat all of this with a tape measure.

Do it for real

The practicals below use what the film shows, with a full method you can follow at home.

Same perimeter, different areaGrams, millilitres and a fair biscuit test

In a nutshell

Read, write and convert time between analogue and digital 12- and 24-hour clocks

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You can count in fives and read o'clock, half past and quarter past.

3

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

analogue
A clock with hands.
digital
A clock that shows numbers, like 14:20.
24-hour clock
Counting the hours 00 to 23 instead of using am and pm.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — Reading clocks

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

The two hands

The short hand shows the hour, the long hand the minutes. Each number the long hand passes is 5 minutes, so pointing at the 4 means 20 minutes past. Twenty past three is written 3:20. Past the half hour we often say 'to': 3:50 is ten to four.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

am and pm

There are two 3 o'clocks in a day. 3am is early morning, 3pm is afternoon. am covers midnight to midday, pm covers midday to midnight. Digital clocks on phones often show am and pm; station clocks usually do not.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

The hands show the short hand just past 2 and the long hand on the 6. What time is it?

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

What is 4pm on a 24-hour clock?

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — 24-hour time and timetables

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Going 24-hour

The 24-hour clock keeps counting after midday: 1pm is 13:00, 2pm is 14:00, and so on to 23:00 for 11pm. Midnight is 00:00. The trick is simple — add 12 to any pm time. So 7:45pm becomes 19:45. Morning times just get a leading zero: 8:05am is 08:05.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Working out how long

A train leaves at 14:20 and arrives at 15:05. Count on: 40 minutes gets you to 15:00, then 5 more, so 45 minutes. Jumping to the next whole hour first is much safer than trying to subtract times in columns.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

09:35 is the same as...

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

A film starts at 18:30 and ends at 20:15. How long is it?

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Reading the long hand on the 4 as 4 minutes past instead of 20.
  • Turning 7:45pm into 17:45 instead of 19:45.
  • Subtracting times as if there were 100 minutes in an hour.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

There are two 3 o'____ in a day.

____ clocks on phones often show am and pm; station clocks usually do not.

18

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

No quiz for this one

This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.

19

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Article

The cost of a school trip

A school is planning a trip to a wildlife park. The coach costs £480 however many people go. Entry costs £9.50 for each pupil and each adult goes free. The school says every pupil must pay the same amount, and the trip must not lose money.

If 60 pupils go, the coach works out at £8 each, so the total for each pupil is £17.50. If only 40 pupils go, the coach works out at £12 each, so the price rises to £21.50. The teacher explains that the coach is a fixed cost and the entry is a cost per person — which is why the price per pupil changes when the number changes.

The school decides to charge £20 and to use anything left over for a second trip later in the year.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Work out the total cost of the trip if 50 pupils go.
  2. Show why the price per pupil falls when more pupils go, using numbers.
  3. At £20 each, how many pupils must go before the trip makes money? Show your working.

  • Working out

    Working out

    Do the practice questions on paper, showing every step — not just the answer. Mark them yourself and circle anything you got wrong.

    10–15 questions

  • Worked example, explained

    Writing

    Copy one question out and write underneath, in words, why each step works.

    1 question, 4–5 sentences

  • Problem in words

    Working out

    Write your own real-life problem that uses today's method, then solve it.

    1 problem + solution

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

Next

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