Time

This topic is part of the National Curriculum but is not included in the DfE 2020 guidance or the NCETM Mastery PD Materials. There are no NCETM classroom slides to download for this unit. We hope that teachers/schools will plan to cover this material from their own existing high-quality resources and using the information and suggestions below.

National curriculum statutory requirements (p9)

Pupils should be taught to:

• sequence events in chronological order using language [for example, before and after, next, first, today, yesterday, tomorrow, morning, afternoon and evening]
• recognise and use language relating to dates, including days of the week, weeks, months and years
• tell the time to the hour and half past the hour and draw the hands on a clock face to show these times.

When planning this unit, consider how you will be developing the children’s understanding of the concept of time throughout the school day. They will be developing awareness of their age in years, which month their birthday is in, days and nights, the days of the week when they come to school and those when they are at home, which day of the week they have PE, what time lunch is, etc.

Consider why we need agreed units of time. For example, get them to consider how they could measure the passage of time before looking at a clock. Pose questions such as: Josh claps his hands 15 times, while Muhammed claps his hands 20 times when watching the same video clip. What’s the same and what is different? Draw their attention for the need for standard measurements of time such as seconds, minutes and hours.

Introducing a clock

In Unit 2 and Unit 5, pupils will have looked at comparing numbers and positioning them on a number line. Use this learning to create a number line that starts at 0 and ends at 12.

Pupils could run their finger along the line, or you could make a large number line outside and get the children to walk along the line. As they land on a number they say “1 o’clock in the morning, 2 o’clock in the morning, 3 o’clock in the morning...”. When they get to 12 o’clock, ask them what they should do now. Return to the 0 and start again, this time saying “1 o’clock in the afternoon, 2 o’clock in the afternoon…" You may want to repeat this several times to draw attention to the fact that time does not stop.

To show that the passage of time is continuous, make a number line on a something that will bend around to create a circle such as part of a hosepipe. If you have made a large number line in the school hall using a rope, then join the 12 and the 0 together to make a circle. The children can then walk around the circle and when they stand on a number say the number followed by “o’clock”.

When they walk around it the first time say, “this is in the morning” and when they go round again say that “this is the afternoon”. This will support later with the fact that there are 24 hours in a day and we refer to times as am (morning) and pm (afternoon) when using an analogue clock. Repeat several times.

Introduce the hour hand and show how it revolves around the circle in a clockwise direction. When it points directly at a number, this is when it is o’clock.

Then only when this is secure, you might want to introduce ‘half past the hour’. Introduce this as ‘not o’clock’. ‘When the hour hand is halfway between two numbers it is has gone past a number, so we say half past.’ Practise telling the time with just the hour hand, first with o’clock and then half past.

Opportunities to address this topic in other Year 1 Units in the curriculum prioritisation materials

• Unit 2: Comparison of quantities and part–whole relationships.
• Unit 5: Numbers 0 to 10.

Cross-curricular opportunities to address this topic

• History – children should develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time.
• Throughout the school day referring to when events occur such as the start and end of the school day, lunchtime, etc.

Useful resources

• Online interactive clocks: ITP clock (Mathsframe), Teaching Clock (topmarks.co.uk).
• Teaching telling the time: a non-standard approach. This article, written by a Y3 teacher, reflects on teaching telling the time using an approach she observed in Shanghai.
• BBC CBeebies Numberblocks Specials: About Time.