Year 2 explorers turn digital times into words to the quarter hour, learn what a.m. and p.m. mean, and work out what a digital clock will show after some minutes have passed.
What your child will learn
- Find the hour and the minutes on a digital clock
- Match a digital time to the same time on a clock face
- Know that a.m. is the morning and p.m. is the afternoon and evening
- Add 15, 30 or 60 minutes to a digital time
a.m. and p.m.
A clock shows 12 hours, but a day has 24, so every time happens twice. a.m. times are from midnight to midday — the morning. p.m. times are from midday to midnight — the afternoon, evening and night. 7:00 a.m. is breakfast time; 7:00 p.m. is dinner time.
Minutes stop at 59
Adding minutes can carry over into the next hour. 4:45 plus 30 minutes is not 4:75 — after 59 minutes the clock moves on to the next hour, so it is 5:15.
Example questions
Here are a few questions like the ones in the first quest. Can you solve them?
1. Which number on this clock tells us the hour?
Show answer
Answer: 8. On a digital clock the hour comes first, before the two dots. The minutes come after them. So the hour is 8.
2. Which number on this clock tells us the hour?
Show answer
Answer: 1. On a digital clock the hour comes first, before the two dots. The minutes come after them. So the hour is 1.
3. How many minutes past the hour is it?
Show answer
Answer: 30. The numbers after the two dots are the minutes: 30. So it is 30 minutes past 9.
Tips for grown-ups
- Ask “a.m. or p.m.?” when you talk about the day’s plans.
- Look at the time on the car or kitchen clock and ask what it will say in half an hour.