In the UK, children learn how to tell the time in school from the age of 5, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give them a helping hand before then! In fact, many children start asking questions about the passage of time and how we understand it from a very young age, and their understanding develops throughout early childhood as they explore the world around them. So, help your little one to develop a proactive understanding of the concept of time and support their ongoing learning with these helpful tips.
Apply it to their lives
At this young age, the concept of time is very abstract for most children as it involves thinking about events that haven’t happened yet, or may not happen, as well as events that occurred before they were born. In a general sense, children may remember past events and understand important events that are yet to happen, but their memory capabilities are still developing and they will struggle to conceptualise how much time has passed or how much time is left of any particular period of time.
So, the first step in introducing this complex concept to young children is to make it tangible and apply it to their everyday experiences. One of the best ways to do this is by adhering to their natural sleep-wake cycle (or circadian rhythm) which allows the implementation of a steady sleep schedule. Whilst your little ones will know that they are tired, they might not register that this happens at a particular time every day, so make this more obvious for them by using clear signals to show that it is night time. Dim the lights, quiet household noises, and avoid any exciting activities in the hour before bedtime, and show that this isn’t just happening for them by pointing out that everyone else is also winding down for the night and getting ready to end the day.
Explore the seasons
Once your little one has an awareness of the days passing, it’s time to encourage them to see the passage of time on a larger scale by helping them to observe it in the world around them. Just as they fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning, so do the green leaves of summer become orange in the autumn and fall in the winter before returning next spring in a consistent cycle.
This reframes the passing of time from being all about minutes and hours to months and years, although this can be quite hard for children to grasp unless they observe it for themselves. So, rather than using a calendar to explain these larger units of time, take your little one out for regular walks to observe the seasonal changes together. Point out the cold air and snow in winter and the warmth of summer to tie their understanding in with sensory signals and make the learning process a fun, engaging activity that you share together.
Follow a routine
Now that they have a general understanding of the concept of time, both in their own lives and in the world around them, it’s time to start teaching them to track it for themselves.
Explain to them that rather than just being divided into night and day, each day is further broken up into morning, afternoon, and evening, as well as hours, minutes and seconds within this. Sit down with them and draw up a chart of their daily activities in the order that they occur, starting with waking up and brushing their teeth and ending with saying goodnight to everyone and reading a story together before bed. Write the time of each activity next to it and as they grow, they’ll be able to point to these times on a clock and tell you how much time is left before a parent returns from work, before you all have dinner, and before they go to bed.
After your child has familiarised themself with this passage of time laid down on paper, you can then extend the activity to include their weekly routine to show that some activities happen on a weekly, or even monthly basis, rather than just daily. Tick the days off a calendar for a month before turning it over and showing that the natural cycle of time is ongoing, and that being able to track the passing time is a key skill for any developing mind to learn.
Consistency is key
When introducing young children to the concept of time, consistency is essential. Whatever time-teaching activities you choose, make sure that you make them a regular part of your child’s routine to help them fully grasp the concept and encourage daily practice. You can ask them how long an activity should take for example, such as brushing their teeth (2 minutes) or getting dressed in the morning (10 minutes), as these activities should take the same amount of time each day. It might take a while for them to build up their confidence when giving an answer, but with enough practice and repetition they will know exactly how long 10 minutes should feel when performing a task.
Similarly, that consistency needs to come from you, so be aware of how you yourself talk about time. For example, don’t just say that you’ll be there to help them with a particular task in ‘just a moment!’ if you are likely to be much longer, as this can be confusing for little ones who are still learning about the different measurements of time.
Explore our EasyRead range
Finally, once the time comes for your child to learn how to tell the time on a clock, our range will have everything you need to give them plenty of practice at home and out and about.
- Our EasyRead wall clocks: Add one of our educational clocks to your child’s bedroom or playroom wall and ask them plenty of times a day to read the time using either the 12/24 Hour or the Past & To method.
- Our EasyRead alarm clocks: Our alarm clocks display the time with silent sweeping movements so there’s no annoying ticking keeping your little one awake – just an LED nightlight and a glowing clock face in the morning to make it easy for them to read the time whenever they need to.
- Our EasyRead watches: Give your little one the tools to tell the time for themselves and practice their new skills no matter where they are with our EasyRead watches.
If you need any more information on how to use our EasyRead products or about our time-teaching method, find out everything you need to know here.
Learning aids, a curriculum printout, a list of school rules – is there anything missing from your classroom walls this term? Whether your class has already learned how to tell the time or this is a topic you will be exploring this year, having a clock in a classroom should be a top priority for all teachers and learning support staff.
Having a classroom clock available for pupils to use helps them do more than just track the minutes left of a lesson, so let’s take a look at the 5 reasons why you should always have an EasyRead clock in your classroom.
Support the curriculum
Being able to tell the time is a fundamental skill that all UK primary school children must learn. As well as being a core topic included in the curriculum, this vital life skill is often a childs’ first introduction to the concept of time, which they must have a good understanding of before they can begin learning to read a clock themselves.
The large numbers and clear design of our clocks are intended to be seen from anywhere in the room, giving pupils a visual aid that they can familiarise themselves with before they start learning to tell the time, and then practise with as they learn. All our designs also include our simple teaching system that makes it easy for children to read the time in 3 easy steps, making it a great introduction to the time-teaching elements of the school curriculum.
Everyday practice
Once children understand the passage of time and how it is divided between hours, minutes and seconds, these new skills become useful in many other areas of life. From understanding the importance of being on time to taking responsibility for your own schedule, ongoing practice helps students to develop their understanding of time in a real-life context.
So, having a clock that all pupils have access to is a great way to encourage continued practice throughout the school day. Whether your pupils use the clock to work out how much longer is left in a lesson or to observe the passage of time across the school day, they will come to understand that time is not just a topic that they learn in school but also an important part of everyday life.
Structured learning
Without a clock in a classroom the only way that a pupil can know what time it is is to ask their teacher – and we all know how much young children love to ask questions.
So, rather than having to answer non-stop questions about what time it is or how long is left in a lesson, simply add one of our EasyRead classroom clocks to your classroom and see how well it minimises these interruptions. This will also make it easier to implement a structured routine that pupils are expected to follow, as well as setting them timed tasks and letting them track the time that they have left.
This will also help pupils stay focused on a particular task and stop them from continually wanting to know what time it is, and the ability to track their own progress and finish work within a set time frame becomes increasingly important as they grow. So, keep lessons on track and encourage their development with our range of classroom wall clocks.
Support with maths
Clocks are often one of the very first experiences that children have with numbers, making them a great introduction to maths. Our clocks contain the numbers 1 through to 30, or 1 to 60 if you opt for our 12/24 Hour clock, which familiarises children with these numbers and helps them to identify their connection to each other as time progresses.
Having a clock in a classroom helps children to apply this knowledge, as they can then go on to quickly understand the basics of addition and subtraction by counting how many minutes are left in a lesson, or how long they have already spent on a task. Our clocks are also an excellent introduction to fractions as each clock face is clearly divided into half hours and into the 60 minutes in every hour, and you can find out more about how our clocks support maths learning here.
So, whatever mathematical concepts are on your list for this term, start laying the foundations for them now with our clocks.
Pair with resources
Finally, having an EasyRead teaching clock in a classroom is most effective when it is paired with our range of classroom resources. Alongside our clocks we also supply TwinTime Cards to reinforce your pupils’ learning through fun activities, and playground clocks to encourage continued practice outside of the classroom.
Our TwinTime Cards are the perfect resource for practising the time with an entire class, as each pupil is responsible for reading the time displayed on the teaching clock and writing it down on their card. This hands-on approach means that every pupil is able to enjoy this practical activity with the whole class without being put on the spot to answer a question, and just like our clocks they can be used for addition, subtraction, and fractions, as well as learning multiples of 5s and 10s.
Our cards are available in packs of 10 or as part of our complete Classroom Sets, which also include a classroom clock and a Teacher Card for demonstration.
Our full range of classroom resources
So, don’t leave it any later in the new term to invest in a clock for your classroom by heading to our website and exploring our full range today.
It’s been a hectic few months for us here at EasyRead Time Teacher, attending five major trade shows in the first 3 months of 2017. In the UK you may have seen us talking to teachers at BETT and the Education Show, or showcasing our products to retailers at the Spring Fair. We also made our first marketing trip into Europe at Spielwarenmesse (International Toy Fair) in Nuremberg, Germany; and we’ve been showing our products to USA educational retailers at EDexpo in Las Vegas. We were shortlisted as finalists in the UK Educational Resources Awards, thanks to our KS1 maths time-teacher classroom sets.
We’re now pleased to announce our latest new product, which will be available in Australia, the UK & USA by the end of April. We have been hard at work for the past year developing our children’s alarm clocks – perfect for a child’s bedroom! We’ve given our alarm clocks three great features:
- A crescendo alarm, which starts with a gentle beep and gets progressively louder until it is turned off or the snooze button is pressed, delaying it for 5 minutes;
- The clock face is back-lit and acts as a night light, which glows gently in the dark and gets brighter when the snooze button is pressed;
- A silent sweep movement so there is no annoying ticking sound.
Our alarm clocks are available in two colour schemes – rainbow or red & blue. Of course we have made them for both time teaching systems – Past & To or 24-Hour. The alarm clocks have the same face designs as our wall clocks and children’s wrist watches, and come with a reminder of our simple step-by-step time teaching methods. Click here to view the new EasyRead Alarm Clocks.
EasyRead Time Teacher watches are a fantastic present to give to the important child in your life.
Our clocks and watches are a brilliant and educational gift for the little ones in your family. Children all over the world have loved taking ownership of their learning – it’s great to see children teaching themselves and having fun doing it. Every child has to learn how to tell the time as part of their Key Stage 1 Maths syllabus, so why not give them a helping hand with one of our wristwatches?
They’re comfortable and colourful, with a large clear face that shows children everything they need to know to tell the time. The wristband will fit even the tiniest wrist and it’s removable so it can be washed.
Click here to see our EasyRead watches.
With an EasyRead watch, a five year old can learn to tell the time in just 10 minutes. Click here to see what our customers say.
Don’t worry, our 3-step process is very easy to master and our free resources are just a click away. We have all the support you need.
In addition, we also offer clocks for the home. Our 3-step teaching system is easy to master, enabling the children to learn with very minimal input from the adults around them. Click here to view our EasyRead clocks.
It’s important for parents to understand what their child is learning at school. It’s only natural that parents want to help their child be the best they can be. The early years at school are important to a child’s learning growth.
Key Stage 1
Year 1 Programme
In 2014, telling the time was introduced to the National Curriculum. In the early stages of Key Stage 1, children are required to tell the time to the hour and half past the hour and draw the hands on a clock face to show these times. What better way to introduce your child to the concept of time than having your own EasyRead Time Teacher wall clock in your house? The clear and colourful clock face is easy to read and our simple yet effective learning methods will have your child reading the time in a matter of hours.
Year 2 Programme
According to the year 2 programme of study, children should be able to count in multiples of 2, 3, 5 and 10 forwards and backwards. They should also be able to recognise, find, name and write fractions. Our wall clocks will not only help children with counting, they can also assist with fractions. The ¼, ½ and ¾ fractions are easily recognisable on the EasyRead clock face and will help your child understand fractions. In year 2, children are expected to tell and write the time to five minutes including quarter past/quarter to the hour. They should also know the number of minutes in an hour and the number of hours in a day.
Key Stage 2
Year 3 & 4 Programmes
Key Stage 2 builds upon the Key Stage 1 skills. Children will develop their fractions and counting skills. They will also learn to tell and write the time from an analogue clock. Children will also be expected to have a good concept of time. This means they will be able to estimate the time with increasing accuracy to the nearest minute. They will also use vocabulary such as o’clock, am/pm, morning, afternoon, noon and midnight. Our clocks are proven to help children at an early age to grasp the concept of time.
Our EasyRead Time Teacher wall clocks and watches are great for introducing your children to the concept of time so they are prepared for what they are going to be learning at school.
Click here to see the EasyRead wall clocks.
Click here to see the EasyRead watches.
“Excuse me, do you have the time?” – A common question asked. What if you couldn’t answer that question? Well according to a poll by an on-line watch retailer earlier last year, one in seven people admit they can’t tell time on a non-digital watch.
More shockingly perhaps is the fact that in a different poll by www.TwistedTime.com, 37 per cent of parents with children aged 10 or under said they had not or did not plan to teach their children to read the time on non-digital watches. But why is this? Perhaps because people rely on getting the time from their phones and iPods rather than from watches and clocks.
Is it even necessary for 21st century children to learn how to tell the time on an analogue clock in today’s digital age? Well, yes! There are countless reasons:
- Analogue clocks can provide a vivid representation of time that digital clocks cannot. With many different learner types out there – including visual learners/thinkers – most need the analogue clock to have a good understanding of time. Children with autism spectrum disorders are an example.
- Telling the time is a useful skill and analogue clocks are still in use. It also provides a useful framework for understanding of modules and alternative numerical base systems.
- Are we going to replace the beautiful clocks on our churches and railway stations even the with digital? Surely not!
- “I’ll meet you at the train station at quarter past five” – this could be a problem if you can only use a digital clock!
- iPhones and iPods have an analogue clock option which is very popular amongst Apple users. Other companies such as Audi and Lexus also use the analogue clock rather than digital in some of their cars. Analogue still exists around us – and will continue to do so.
We are a family business dedicated to helping children and adults learn to tell the time on analogue clocks. Our clocks and watches are designed to help children learn to tell the time in terms of ‘minutes past’ and ‘minutes to’ the hour. Take a look at our 2 and 3 step teaching method.
It’s important for parents to understand what their child is learning at school. It’s only natural that parents want to help their child be the best they can be. The early years at school are important to a child’s learning growth.
Preschool and Kindergarten
At preschool age, kids are required to be able to discuss units of time. For example seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks and years. To be able to do this, kids need to have an understanding of how time works. Having one of our EasyRead wall clocks at home will begin to introduce kids to the concept of time, therefore making their first day at preschool that little bit easier. In Kindergarten, kids will begin to develop their understanding of units of time and will begin to add phrases such as morning, afternoon, next week, in fifteen minutes etc. to their vocabulary.
Grade 1
Kids at this stage should be able to tell and write the time in hours and half hours. They will also be able to describe events in terms of time. This means they will begin to use phrases such as “this morning I…”, “for the first 15 minutes I will be…” and “at 1:30pm I…”
Our EasyRead Time Teacher wall clocks and watches are great for introducing your kids to the concept of time at home so they are prepared for what they are going to be learning at school.
Click here to see the EasyRead wall clocks.
Click here to see the EasyRead watches.
Here at EasyRead Time Teacher, we love hearing feedback from our customers. We have always believed that our customers are our best advert. Take a look at what they are saying about EasyRead:
“The watch I ordered allowed my 9 year old dyslexic daughter to read the time like her classmates for the very first time! It has made such a significant difference to her life.”
“I would highly recommend this clock if your child has difficulty understanding how to tell the time – I wish I’d had something like this when I was a child!”
“My daughter has an EasyRead watch, we bought the matching clock and they really help with her understanding.”
“My five year old daughter learned to tell the time in five minutes!”
“Fantastic watch! My Granddaughter can’t wait to go to school wearing hers!”
“Excellent, daughter is very happy! She learnt time within two days. The watch is very sturdy, highly recommended.”
“Best watch I’ve ever purchased for my daughter.”
“What a brilliant watch!! So easy to read and builds children’s confidence. I would recommend this watch to everyone!”
“Great products and excellent quality for the money!”
Would you like to see what all the fuss is about? Click here to view all our EasyRead products.
TwinTime offers a whole different method of teaching children how to tell the time. Here at EasyRead, we understand how difficult teaching the time can be – especially in a classroom full of excitable children. Our products are proven and trusted by hundreds of schools and thousands of teachers.
We recommend pairing the TwinTime Teacher Edition with the TwinTime Student Edition however this isn’t essential, our system works just as effectively if you purchase one or the other.
The TwinTime Teacher Edition was designed so teachers can stand at the front of a classroom to demonstrate setting the time with the moveable hands. It is wipe on wipe off so you can also write the time underneath the clock.
The TwinTime Student Edition is smaller than the Teacher Edition – perfect for children. They are perfect for children to work in groups or individually for setting the time on the clock face and then writing the time underneath.
As well as telling the time, TwinTime is also useful for counting forwards and backwards from 30, for learning fractions and counting in 5s and 10s.
Our 2 and 3 step teaching systems will work perfectly with TwinTime in teaching children how to tell the time. Take a look at them here.
So you’ve bought your EasyRead Time Teacher clock…now what?
Practice makes perfect! Our clocks are designed to be taken off the wall and interacted with. Children will love the ‘hands on’ learning and then, seeing it every day up on the wall, they can practice and cement their learning.
We have even put the teaching methods on the back of the clock to make life as easy as possible! The simple design is brilliant for young children trying to get to grips with telling the time.
Take a look at our classroom clocks here.
Download our free resources here.
If you need any help or have any questions, please email us on [email protected] or call on 07865 470905.
