What Time is it

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What Time is it?
In this lesson you will learn how to tell what
time it is when you look at a clock.
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Clocks come in many different shapes and sizes.
They are found everywhere. There are clocks in
houses, on wrists, and even on the outside of
buildings.
It is important to know how to tell time so
that you dont become late for some important
event.
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There are 24 hours in a day. The day is broken
up into two parts A.M. (the morning hours) and
P.M. (the evening hours). Every clock has 12
hours on it which stands for half of a day.
Minute Hand
Hour Hand
The long hand on the clock is called the MINUTE
HAND, and the short hand is called the HOUR HAND.
The minute hand goes around the clock once an
hour, and the hour hand goes around the clock
once every twelve hours. The blue numbers are
the hour numbers, and the red numbers are the
minutes in each hour.
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First lets learn about the whole hours on a
clock. Click on to see
what each hour on a clock looks like.
Whole Hour
100
500
300
Three oclock
One oclock
Five oclock
Notice that the minute hand is always pointing to
the 12 on every hour. Also notice when it is
100, the hour hand is pointing to the 1. When
it is 500, the hour hand is pointing to the 5.
When it is any oclock, the hour hand is
pointing to the number of oclock that it is.
Oclock means of the clock. So if it is
Three oclock, that means it is 300,
which means it is three of the clock. The
minute hand is pointing at the 12 and the hour
hand is pointing at the 3.
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Test Your Knowledge
For more practice telling time on the hour, play
this fun game!
Snapdragon Time Game
When you think you are ready to tell time on the
hour, take this quiz to test your knowledge.
Hour Quiz
Hour Answers
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Time to learn the half hour
There are 60 minutes in each hour. The minute
hand on a clock points to each of the 60 minutes
before a new hour is reached.
A half an hour is 30 minutes into the hour. When
it is half past an hour, the MINUTE hand is
pointing to the 6, or in the case of
these clocks, the minute hand is also pointing to
the red 30.
When it is half past an hour, the hour hand
is halfway between the current hour and the hour
that is coming up next. Study the pictures of
clocks on this page. What times do you think
these clocks read?
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This clock reads 1030. There are two ways to
say this with words. One way is ten
thirty. Another way is to say half past ten.
Notice that the hour hand is in between the 10
and 11.
This clock shows 530. The two other ways to say
this are five thirty and half past
five. Notice that the hour hand is in between
the 5 and 6.
This clock reads 230. Half past two and two
thirty are other ways to read this clock. Notice
that the hour hand is in between the 2 and 3.
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There are two important things to remember when
telling time on the half hour.
1 The hour hand will always be directly in
between two numbers on the clock, and whatever
hour has the thirty minutes past in it will be
the hour before the other hour the minute hand is
near.
2 The minute hand will always be pointing to
the 6.
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Test Your Knowledge
Time to play this fun game!
Willy the Watchdog
When you think you are ready to test your
knowledge on telling time by the half hour, take
this quiz and check your answers when you are
done.
Half Hour Quiz
Half Hour Answers
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Time to learn in 5 minutes!
It is easy to learn how to read a clock in five
minute increments. These clocks have the minutes
in red, so whatever the minute hand is pointing
to, that is the number of minutes that
have passed in the given hour.
510
920
125
This clock reads 510 because the minute hand is
pointing to the 10, and the hour hand is just
past the 5.
920 is represented on this clock. The
minute hand points to the 20, and the hour hand
is just past the 9.
This reads 125. The minute hand is pointing to
the 25 and the hour hand passed the 1.
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Not every clock will have the minutes written
right on it, however. Therefore, you must know
what minutes go with the hour numbers on a clock.
Study the clock and the following chart and try
to remember what minute numbers go with each hour
number. An easy way to remember this concept is
to remember that the minute numbers go up by 5 on
every hour number.
What time does this clock say?
Hour Number Minute Number 1 5 2 10
3 15 4 20 5 25 6 30 7 35 8 40 9 45 1
0 50 11 55 12 60 or 00
655 (Six Fifty-five or Five to Seven)
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When the minute hand on a clock points to the 3
or the 9, there are significant ways to say what
time is represented.
This clock reads 1245. You can either read this
by saying Twelve Forty-five, or Quarter to
One. You can say that it is quarter to 100
because there is only ¼ of an hour left in the
1200 hour. ¼one quarter. Therefore, there is
one quarter before the next hour, which is
100. So, you can say, The time is quarter to
one.
The same applies to this clock. This clock
reads 715, which is Seven Fifteen, or
Quarter after Seven. One quarter of an
hour has passed after seven. You can only say
this when the minute hand points to the 3.
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Test Your Knowledge
Time Clock
Play the game above to practice telling
time. When you think you can tell time by any
five minute increments, take the quiz below and
check your answers when you are done.
Five Minute Quiz
Five Minute Answers
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Time to learn minutes
Learning how to read specific minutes on a clock
is very simple as soon as youve mastered every
other aspect of reading a clock.
1007
The key to reading the minutes on a clock
is looking where the minute hand is placed. When
it is not pointing directly to an hour number and
it is somewhere in between them, you must look
closely to see if there are little
dashes on the clock. There are four dashes
in between each hour number, and each
dash represents one minute. For example, if
the minute hand points to the third dash after
an hour number, that means that three minutes
have passed since that hour number was reached.
1241
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This clock shows the minute hand pointing to the
third dash after the 4th hour number. Notice the
position of the hour hand-it is in between the 1
and the 2. Therefore, what time does this clock
say?
123
956
This clock time is very tricky. Notice that the
minute hand is pointing to the first dash after
the 11th hour number. Remember that the 11th
hour number stands for 55 minutes. 55156. The
hour hand is almost pointing to the 10 but has
not reached it yet. Therefore, the time is what?
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Picture what a clock would look like if it read
737. The minute hand would be 2 minutes past
35, which is what hour number? The hour hand
would be in between which two numbers?
Is this clock what you pictured in your head?
What would 412 look like on a clock?
Think about where the minute hand would be
and what two numbers the hour hand should be
in between.
This is what 412 looks like on a clock.
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Test Your Knowledge
Bang On Clock
Play Bang On Clock to see how well you can read
a clock when the time goes on and on!
How well do you know the clock? When you think
you have mastered the ability to read a clock,
take this quiz below and check your answers when
you are done!
Minute Quiz
Minute Answers
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The last part of telling time is determining the
difference between the A.M. hours and the P.M.
hours. It is important to remember that the A.M.
hours are the first 12 hours in the day. In
other words, A.M. means morning. P.M. hours refer
to the afternoon hoursthe second 12 hours in the
day.
When reading a clock, the time could be either
A.M. or P.M. It is up to you to determine if the
clock read is the time in the morning hours
(A.M.) or evening hours (P.M.).
This clock reads 330. This could be 330 in the
morning OR in the evening. If it is 330 in the
morning, it would be 330 A.M. If it is 330 in
the evening, it would read 330 P.M.
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A.M. stands for ante meridiem, which means
before noon. Noon is 1200 P.M. or lunch
time. The A.M. hours go from 1200 A.M.
(midnight) to 1159 A.M. (one minute before noon).
Just remember Morning hours mean the time is in
the A.M.
P.M. stands for post meridiem, which means after
noon. The P.M. hours go from 1200 P.M. (lunch
time) to 1159 P.M. (one minute before midnight).
Afternoon/night hours mean the time is in the P.M.
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The Ultimate Test
Play these clock games and see if you can meet up
to the challenge of telling time.
Cat Clock
Stop the Clock
About what time does this clock read?
Kats Time
As soon as you have practiced enough to be a
professional clock-reader, take the clock test
and check your answers when you are done.
Final Answers
Final Test
745
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Congratulations!
You have completed this time-telling lesson! Now
do you know what time it is? It is now time for
you to go out in the world and know what time it
is and how to tell time on any clock!