How to make it
- Pick the precisionTimes to the hour, half hour, quarter hour, five minutes or minute; each step up adds more possible positions for the minute hand.
- Read or drawRead the clock shows hands and an answer line; Draw the hands prints an empty face with the time written underneath.
- Print the clocksTwelve clocks, three to a row, fill one page; change the number if you like, then print it along with the answer key.
Two tasks: read the clock or draw the hands
In Read the clock, each face shows an hour hand and a minute hand, and a line below waits for the child to write the time. In Draw the hands, the face is empty apart from its numbers and tick marks, and a time such as 4:25 is printed underneath; the child draws both hands. The key shows written answers for reading sheets and pink hands for drawing sheets.
Drawing is harder than reading, because the child has to decide where the hour hand goes rather than just recognize it. Most children do better with a few weeks of reading at each level before moving to drawing at the same level.
Each face has the numbers 1 to 12, a short mark for every minute and a longer mark every five minutes. The hour hand is short and thick, the minute hand long and thin, and the hour hand moves gradually between numbers as a real clock's does, so at 2:45 it sits three quarters of the way from 2 to 3. That detail is where many errors come from, and it is better met on paper than on a test.
Five levels from o'clock to the minute
Hour gives o'clock times only: the minute hand always points straight up at 12. Half hour adds half past, with the minute hand at 6. Quarter hour adds quarter past and quarter to, at 3 and 9. Five minutes allows any multiple of five, so the minute hand always rests on a number, which is why counting by fives matters so much at this stage. Minute allows any time at all, such as 10:38, with the hand between numbers.
Hours are always 1 to 12, as on a classroom clock. The sheets do not show a.m. and p.m. or 24-hour times, so teach those separately, perhaps by asking children to label a few clocks with a morning or evening activity.
Each level includes the easier times inside it. A five-minute sheet can show 4:00 and 4:30 as well as 4:25, and a quarter-hour sheet still includes o'clock times. That is useful: children keep revising earlier positions while learning new ones, and a sheet never feels like a sudden jump. If a child is anxious about a new level, point out the familiar times first and let them do those before the harder ones.
The words for time, by country
Children need the vocabulary as much as the hands. O'clock, half past and quarter past are common everywhere English is spoken. For 6:45, British and Australian speakers usually say quarter to seven, while many Americans say quarter of seven, quarter till seven, or simply six forty-five. At five-minute precision, many UK and Australian classrooms teach twenty-five past and ten to, while US classrooms often read the digits directly as four twenty-five and three fifty.
Whichever words your school uses, name the hands early: the short hour hand and the long minute hand, rather than little and big, which children can confuse if a clock has hands of similar length. Clockwise is worth teaching as a word, too. Two ideas that support the minute hand are halves and quarters of a circle, which link to early fraction worksheets, and the quarter coin worth 25 cents, which some US teachers use to explain quarter past; the counting money sheets show it.
Which level fits which grade
Grade levels are guidance for choosing the precision, not separate sheets. On US and Canadian sheets (those that open on Letter) the footer code follows the precision: hour and half hour show CCSS 1.MD.B.3, quarter hour and five minutes show CCSS 2.MD.C.7, and the nearest minute shows CCSS 3.MD.A.1. In England, o'clock and half past usually come in Year 1, quarter past, quarter to and five-minute intervals in Year 2, and the nearest minute in Year 3. Australian schools tend to start with o'clock and half past in Foundation or Year 1, add quarter hours in Year 2, and reach minutes by Year 3 or Year 4.
| Precision | Footer code | US grade | England | Australia |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hour | CCSS 1.MD.B.3 | Grade 1 | Year 1 | Foundation to Year 1 |
| Half hour | CCSS 1.MD.B.3 | Grade 1 | Year 1 | Year 1 |
| Quarter hour | CCSS 2.MD.C.7 | Grade 2 | Year 2 | Year 2 |
| Five minutes | CCSS 2.MD.C.7 | Grade 2 | Year 2 | Year 2 to Year 3 |
| Minute | CCSS 3.MD.A.1 | Grade 3 | Year 3 | Year 3 to Year 4 |
Mistakes children make with clocks
The most common error is reading the hour hand as the number it is closest to. At 7:50 the hour hand is almost on 8, so a child writes 8:50. The rule to teach is that the hour is the number the hour hand has most recently passed. Next is swapping the hands, reading the minute hand as the hour. At five-minute level, children who count minutes one tick at a time often lose count; counting by fives around the face, the same skip counting as on a number line counting by fives, is quicker and more reliable.
Writing is a problem of its own. A child may write 3:5 for 3:05; the key always shows two minute digits, which makes the pattern easy to point out. On drawing sheets, look for hands of equal length, an hour hand pointing exactly at the hour when it should have moved past it, and minute hands that point at the hour number instead of the minute mark (drawing 3:20 with the minute hand on 3, not on 4).
How many clocks for practice or a check
A quick daily warm-up needs only three to six clocks; one row on a page, or a short sheet set to six. Twelve, the default, fills one page and is a solid practice session for a first or second grader. For a check at the end of a unit, combine a reading sheet and a drawing sheet at the same precision so you see both skills, and keep the key back until both are done.
Clocks take more room than number problems, so a long sheet runs over more than one page. Many parents find a single page of clocks left on the kitchen table, done a few clocks at a time over breakfast, works better than one long sitting. With a classroom clock in view, ask children to check their answer against a real clock now and then.
Elapsed time is not a sheet type here, but a reading sheet can carry it. Once children read five-minute times well, pick two clocks in the same row and ask how long it is from the first time to the second, or write a start time under a clock and ask what time it will be twenty minutes later. Counting on in steps, first to the next hour and then the minutes left, is the method many teachers use, and a quick sketch of a number line from one time to the other makes each jump visible. Real events help: the time lunch starts and the time it ends, or how long the bus ride takes.
Questions
Can I print blank clocks?
Choose Draw the hands and the clock faces print without hands, showing only the numbers and minute marks. Each face has a target time written beneath it, such as 9:30, for the child to show. The answer key draws the correct hands in pink on the same faces.
Can I make worksheets for telling time to the hour and half hour?
Yes. Choose Hour for o'clock times only, or Half hour for a mix of o'clock and half past. These are the usual first levels in first grade, Year 1 in England and Foundation or Year 1 in Australia, and US sheets show CCSS 1.MD.B.3 in the footer.
Do the sheets show digital times?
Drawing sheets print each target time in digital form, such as 11:15, under an empty clock face, so children practice matching digital times to the analog clock. Reading sheets ask children to write the time in the same digital form, and the key shows it that way.
Do the clocks show a.m., p.m. or 24-hour time?
No. Every clock uses hours 1 to 12 with no a.m. or p.m., which matches how an analog clock looks. Teach a.m., p.m. and the 24-hour clock with daily routines and timetables once children read analog times confidently.
How do you teach a child to tell time?
Start with the hour hand alone on o'clock times, then add the minute hand at half past. Count around the clock by fives before five-minute times. Use a real clock alongside, and move from reading to drawing at each level. Short, frequent practice usually works better than long sessions.
Is there an answer key for the clock worksheets?
Yes, it prints after the worksheet with the same sheet number. On reading sheets it writes each time in pink below the clock; on drawing sheets it draws the hour and minute hands in pink. Save it as its own file with the Answer key PDF button.
Common Core State Standards: © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.