Learning About Time

Active learning helps young children grasp time concepts because movement and physical manipulation make abstract ideas concrete. When students build clocks or time activities, they connect abstract numbers to lived experience, which builds confidence and accuracy. Hands-on tasks also let teachers spot misconceptions early and respond right away.

• Senior Infants
• Foundations of Mathematical Thinking
• 4 activities
• 25 min–40 min

Learning Objectives

1. Identify and state the time shown on a 24-hour digital clock to the nearest hour and half-hour.
2. Calculate the duration of simple activities, such as a 15-minute playtime or a 30-minute lesson.
3. Compare the time in Ireland to the time in a different time zone, such as New York, identifying the difference in hours.
4. Sequence daily events, such as breakfast, school, and bedtime, in chronological order using days of the week.

Role Play

⏱ 30 min·Pairs

Hands-On Clock: Build and Read

Provide paper plates, brads, and markers for students to create analog clocks. Demonstrate setting hands for school times like 09:00, then have pairs set and read five daily times while linking to routines. Discuss as a class.

Prepare & details

What do you do in the morning before you come to school?

Facilitation Tip: During Hands-On Clock, circulate with a large teacher clock to model correct hand movement and reinforce the idea that the minute hand completes a full circle each hour.

Setup: Open space or rearranged desks for scenario staging

Materials: Character cards with backstory and goals, Scenario briefing sheet

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Role Play

⏱ 35 min·Small Groups

Duration Hunt: Timer Challenges

Give small groups stopwatches or sand timers. Assign tasks like clapping for 10 seconds or walking laps, record durations on charts. Compare results and add up total times for morning activities.

Prepare & details

Can you point to the clock when the big hand is on the 12?

Facilitation Tip: During Duration Hunt, start timers in small groups so children hear the beep and see the seconds pass, linking sound to elapsed time.

Setup: Open space or rearranged desks for scenario staging

Materials: Character cards with backstory and goals, Scenario briefing sheet

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Role Play

⏱ 40 min·Small Groups

Days of Week: Timeline Parade

Create a class timeline on the floor with day cards. Students in small groups act out Monday events, then Tuesday, moving along the line. Point to clocks for key times each day.

Prepare & details

What day comes after Monday?

Facilitation Tip: During Days of Week: Timeline Parade, walk beside groups to listen for ordinal language like first, next, and last.

Setup: Open space or rearranged desks for scenario staging

Materials: Character cards with backstory and goals, Scenario briefing sheet

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Role Play

⏱ 25 min·Whole Class

Time Zones Map: Global Clock Sync

Display a world map with clocks for Ireland and two other places. Whole class sets times, like bedtime here versus morning there. Pairs draw family routines adjusted for zones.

Prepare & details

What do you do in the morning before you come to school?

Facilitation Tip: During Time Zones Map: Global Clock Sync, keep a timer visible so students practice counting hours forward or backward together.

Setup: Open space or rearranged desks for scenario staging

Materials: Character cards with backstory and goals, Scenario briefing sheet

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

Teaching This Topic

Teachers of time in Senior Infants use repeated exposure to familiar routines to build schema. Avoid rushing to abstract notation; let children connect 09:00 to their breakfast time before introducing formal reading. Research shows that sequencing tasks like Days of Week are best taught through songs and physical movement before moving to symbols. When time zones feel confusing, anchor the concept to real routines, such as phoning a relative in a different country.

What to Expect

Successful learning looks like students reading digital times correctly, measuring durations using timers without prompts, and sequencing days of the week with minimal support. By the end, children should compare Ireland’s time to at least one other place using simple time zone differences. Their language should include words like morning, afternoon, and ahead or behind.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During Hands-On Clock, watch for students reversing clock hands due to unfamiliarity.

What to Teach Instead

Model moving the minute hand forward in small steps, pausing at each hour mark to read the time aloud together. Ask children to explain why the hour hand moves slowly as the minute hand circles.

Common Misconception

During Time Zones Map: Global Clock Sync, watch for students thinking clocks run at different speeds in different places.

What to Teach Instead

Use synced clocks on the map and call out events like ‘In New York, it is 5:00 AM while here it is 10:00 AM,’ showing both clocks side by side.

Common Misconception

During Days of Week: Timeline Parade, watch for students believing days repeat randomly.

What to Teach Instead

Have each group lay out day cards and say the sequence aloud. Ask, ‘What comes after Tuesday? How do you know?’ to prompt reasoning and correction among peers.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

After Hands-On Clock, show a digital clock displaying 08:00, 10:30, and 14:00. Ask students to read each time aloud, say if it is morning or afternoon, and then calculate how many hours until 12:00 lunchtime.

Discussion Prompt

During Time Zones Map: Global Clock Sync, ask students to turn to a partner and explain, ‘If it is 10:00 AM in Ireland, what time might it be in Australia? Is it earlier or later?’ Listen for understanding of fixed offsets.

Exit Ticket

After Days of Week: Timeline Parade, give each student a card with a picture of a common activity. Ask them to write the approximate time using the 24-hour clock and the day of the week it usually happens.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge early finishers to create a mini story using four digital times, each showing a different activity in their day.
• Scaffolding for struggling students: provide clock faces with the hour hand already placed so they focus only on identifying the correct minute hand.
• Deeper exploration: invite students to research how time zones change near the equator or at the poles, using simple globes and string to model Earth’s rotation.

Key Vocabulary

24-hour clock	A clock that counts the hours from 00 to 23, used to avoid confusion between morning and afternoon times. For example, 3 PM is 15:00.
duration	The length of time that something continues or lasts. We can measure duration with a timer or by counting minutes.
time zone	A region of the world that observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. Different places have different times at the same moment.
o'clock	Used to indicate the hour when the minute hand of a clock is pointing to the 12. For example, 9:00 is 9 o'clock.