Just in Time

I'm teaching a maths unit on the analog clock in class right now-and it feels good to carry the planning and lessons independently {I am a co-teacher in first grade}. I had a challenging time learning this in school myself when I was young, so it was a good project for me. :) Some teaching tools I used in our classroom: 

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I really love this template I found online. The cute mice characters {I laminated mine} teach children the difference between the minute and hour hand on the analog clock. The top mouse is tall "Minnie" shown in blue; and the small, red mouse is called "Howard." I tell children that likewise the clock has a short, red hour hand and a long blue minute hand. We read a story about how the mice run around the clock at different paces to the O'Clock House. Minnie pushes the slower Howard along. 

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 I found these cute cards on Teachers Pay Teachers just in time for Easter. They are assorted cards showing times in digital time and times expressed on the analog clock. Children can sort them in a variety of ways, including matching the deck to written time, by matching pairs of identical digital and analog times, and to categories/ concepts like half past, quarter to, etc. Great for critical thinking, group work, seeing patterns in sorts, and learning terms like "half past," "quarter to," etc.

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I incorporated fractions into our lesson on the clock, as well. We learned the clock can be divided into two equal halves, and four equal quarters. This is how we gain the expressions "half past", "quarter to", etc. It was a visual, interactive project to illustrate this concept, using coloring and minute labels. 

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Another really great resource to use is an interactive clock that can be used on the Promethean Board. It shades the clock to show fractions, lets you move the hands around, shows the digital equivalent, etc. Awesome! 

http://www.visnos.com/demos/clock

Here is a screenshot of the site: 

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I also incorporate games as teaching tools. The children are invested and I can assess their progress as individuals quickly and informally. 

Time bump is a game children play on tho laminated board with a spinner =paper clip and a pencil tip. The first spin/number on the wheel indicates hours, and the second spin indicates the minutes, to form a complete time. If a child spins a time shown on one of the colored bubbles, they may cover it with a chip. If the next player spins the same time, they may "bump" the student off of that spot. Times not appearing on the board may spin again, after correctly saying the time he/she landed upon.The first student with five chips wins. 

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I also play a two step game of memory. First, children must record the time on a blank analog clock face card from the digital time on the other deck. Once the children make the analog clock cards by drawing the hands accurately, I laminate the cards and use them to play a game of memory. Students must find the matching digital and analog time to form a pair. 

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Happy teaching :)