Telling Time: Hours and Half Hours
Tell and write the time to the hour and half past the hour on analogue clocks and digital displays (e.g. 3 o'clock = 3:00, half past 7 = 7:30), and draw clock hands to show these times, placing the hour hand halfway between two numbers for half past
Lesson
Set out your lesson
“Telling Time: Hours and Half Hours means reading and writing times like 3 o’clock (3:00) and half past 7 (7:30). On an analogue clock, o’clock has the minute hand on 12; half past has the minute hand on 6, and the hour hand sits halfway between two hour numbers. We match analogue and digital forms, then draw one half-past time.”
Bring to the table
- Paper and pencil
- A blank clock face drawn or printed (numbers 1–12; two hands you can draw or movable paper hands)
- Optional: a real analogue clock with movable hands if you already have one
Extra for the adult
Worked example. 3 o’clock is 3:00 with the minute hand on 12 and the hour hand on 3. Half past 7 is 7:30 with the minute hand on 6 and the hour hand halfway between 7 and 8. Half past 2 uses the same minute-hand idea with the hour hand between 2 and 3.
Optional challenge. For Telling Time: Hours and Half Hours, draw half past 10 and explain where the hour hand sits, then match 10:30 and 4:00 on a digital list to sketched clocks. Optional: find a real clock in the room and say whether it shows nearer an hour or a half hour without needing an app.
What to notice. Keep one parent note: times read; digital forms written; half-past drawing details (minute hand / hour hand); support used. A photo of a blank clock alone does not show reading skill. This session does not cover quarter hours or elapsed time.
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Teaching approaches
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1 approach
Telling Time: Hours and Half Hours means reading and writing times like 3 o’clock (3:00) and half past 7 (7:30). On an analogue clock, o’clock has the minute hand on 12; half past has the minute hand on 6, and the hour hand sits halfway between two hour numbers. We match analogue and digital forms, then draw one half-past time.
Spend about 15 minutes reading hour and half-hour times on a drawn or real clock, writing matching digital times, and drawing hands for one half-past time with the hour hand between numbers.
Family records and proof options
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Learning resources
Extra practice links — they do not replace Gakuva’s teaching approach.
Mathsframe · Practice link — not the full lesson
Telling the Time — hour and half-hour practice
Before you open · source notes
Read an analogue clock and choose its digital time. Select level 2, “Read time to the hour and half hour,” then 12 hour clock and Untimed game. This is supplementary clock-reading practice; it does not assess drawing clock hands.
Free without login in the tested game path. An adult may need to select the level and mode and help read the digital choices. No display ad was visible in the inspected publisher-page screenshot; other game, worksheet and registration links are present. Only a short session was tested; no unlimited-use claim.
Before you openAsk: “Where is the hour hand at half past seven?” After playing, separately ask the learner to draw hands for 3 o’clock and half past two on blank clock faces. Record their explanation and drawing, not just the game score.
Opening this link does not save learning or assess mastery.
Source, access and review notes
Mathsframe. External resource; no endorsement implied.
Unknown — link only
Check understanding
- Read an analogue clock showing 3 o'clock and one showing half past 7
- Write half past 7 as 7:30 and match the digital times 3:00 and 7:30 to the right analogue clocks
- Draw the hands on a blank clock face for half past 2, with the minute hand on 6 and the hour hand halfway between 2 and 3
“If you point to a clock showing 3 o'clock or half past two, can your child tell you the time, say which digital time (3:00 or 2:30) matches it — and draw hands on a blank clock face to show a time you call out?”
Curriculum record
- Type
- Representational
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Domain
- Measurement
- Age range
- Ages 5–9
Standards