Telling Time for Kids: O'Clock and Half Past (Grade 1 and Grade 2 Math)

Hi, I'm Luna from DoodleBeez. Today we are learning to tell the time on a clock with hands.

A clock has two hands. The short hand is the hour hand. It tells us the hour. The long hand is the minute hand. It tells us the minutes. Short for hours, long for minutes.

When the long minute hand points straight up to the twelve, it is something o'clock. Look where the short hand points. It points to the three. So this clock says three o'clock.

Here is another one. The long hand points to twelve, and the short hand points to seven. Seven o'clock. On a digital clock we write seven, two dots, zero zero.

Now let's learn half past. When the long hand points straight down to the six, half an hour has gone by. We say half past. The short hand is halfway between the nine and the ten, so it is half past nine.

Why is it written nine thirty? Because there are sixty minutes in an hour, and half of sixty is thirty. Each number on the clock is five minutes. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty five, thirty.

Now it's your turn. What time is this? Pause and look. The long hand points to twelve, so it is o'clock. The short hand points to eleven. Eleven o'clock.

Great job! Remember, the short hand tells the hour, the long hand on twelve means o'clock, and the long hand on six means half past. Practice telling time in the Math Lab at doodlebeez.com. See you next time!