Time: Quarter Past and Quarter To — Year 2 Lesson Plan
National Curriculum: Mathematics Year 2 — Measurement: tell and write the time to five minutes, including quarter past/to the hour
Overview
Pupils extend their understanding of telling the time to include quarter past and quarter to the hour. They use clock faces to identify and describe these positions, relate them to the idea of a quarter of an hour (15 minutes), and practise reading both analogue and digital representations.
Learning Objectives
- Understand that a quarter of an hour equals 15 minutes.
- Read and show quarter past and quarter to on an analogue clock.
- Match analogue and digital times for quarter past and quarter to.
- Use the language 'quarter past' and 'quarter to' accurately in context.
Key Vocabulary
Suggested Lesson Structure
Show pupils a clock set to o'clock and half past times. Quick-fire questions: what time is this? Refresh language of half past and o'clock.
Introduce a large class clock. Explain that just as we can split a circle in half, we can split it into quarters. Show that quarter past means the minute hand has travelled one quarter of the way around (to the 3). Show that quarter to means the minute hand is three quarters of the way around (at the 9). Demonstrate reading: 'It is quarter past 4' and 'It is quarter to 7'. Show the digital equivalents (4:15 and 6:45).
Pupils use individual clock faces to show times called out by the teacher: quarter past 2, quarter to 5, quarter past 11, quarter to 1. Check and correct together.
Pupils complete a matching worksheet pairing analogue clock faces with digital times (quarter past and quarter to). Then draw hands on blank clock faces for given times.
Real-world application: 'School finishes at quarter to 4. What does that look like on the clock? Show me on your mini clock.' Discuss: how is quarter to different from quarter past?
Common Misconceptions
- Pupils say 'quarter to 4' when they mean 'quarter past 3' — emphasise that the big hand at 9 means to the next hour, not the last.
- Confusing which hand is the hour hand and which is the minute hand.
- Reading quarter to 7 as 7:45 instead of 6:45 on a digital clock.
Prior Knowledge
Pupils should already be able to:
- Telling the time to the hour (o'clock) and half past.
- Understanding that there are 60 minutes in an hour.
- Familiarity with analogue clock faces.
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