Primary 1 maths · Measurement & time · About 8 minutes
Read clocks to five minutes using am and pm
Read the hour and minute roles separately, then use the morning or afternoon information.
Start the interactive lesson →Open practice activity
What you will learn
- Read clocks to five minutes using am and pm
Models used: number sentences, stories, diagrams.
Count the minute spaces
It is 25 minutes past three in the afternoon. What do the two hands tell us?
Start at three o’clock. The short hand shows the hour; the long hand begins at twelve.
The short and long hands have different jobs. A new notation can describe the same instant, with the day period made clear.
3:00: the hour is three. Each big number marks five minutes. Count five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five to reach the 5.
5 × 5 = 25 minutes
The minute hand at 5 means 25 minutes. The short hand is part of the way from three to four. Read the time as 3:25. Because our story says afternoon, use pm.
3:25 pm
3:25 pm
What did the picture help us see?
The short hand is part of the way from three to four. Read the time as 3:25. Because our story says afternoon, use pm.
Worked example: A new example, together
Read the clock. It is after noon.
Read the hour and minute roles separately, then use the morning or afternoon information.
The short hand locates the hour and the long hand counts minutes past it. The story tells us whether to use am or pm.
Short hand: hour. Long hand: minutes. Read the hour from the short hand.
Short hand: hour. Long hand: minutes. Read the clock. It is after noon.
10:50 pm
Read the hour from the short hand.
Short hand: hour. Long hand: minutes. Read minute marks from the long hand.
Short hand: hour. Long hand: minutes. Use the time-of-day information: 10:50 pm.
Short hand: hour. Long hand: minutes. Check the result against the question we started with.
The hour hand moves between hour numbers as the minutes pass.
We found 10:50 pm. The short hand locates the hour and the long hand counts minutes past it. The story tells us whether to use am or pm.
Short hand: hour. Long hand: minutes.
Common mistakes to discuss
- Reading the hour the hand is nearest. The hour is the number the short hand has passed. At 3:50 the short hand is close to 4, but the time is ten to four, not 4:50.
Check your understanding
- Read clocks to five minutes using am and pm
- connect clock hands and time notation without changing the instant
- check the answer against the original quantities and units
Explain your reasoning to an adult, then try a fresh question in the interactive lesson. A result from one attempt is not proof of lasting mastery.
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