Concept Map Project: Teaching Elementary School Level Children How to Tell Time

This concept map shows how to teach telling time to young children. This is something that I am familiar with because it is a concept that is essential for elementary level students to grasp. I want to become an elementary school teacher so this topic is something that I will be teaching in the near future. It is important to go about this subject in a fun and creative way so the students will be engaged while still learning the basic concepts of telling time.

Before the students can learn how to tell time they need to learn the terminology connected to time and a clock. The face of the clock is where the number are present and it is usually in a circular shape. The numbers on the clock are important because they represent the hours as well as the minutes so it is important for children to understand that concept. The number 12 on the clock is at the top and to the right is 1,2,3,4 all in a circular motion around the outermost part of the clock. The numbers 12 and 6 are seen as bases because they are across from each other. The number 6 represents half past while the numbers 3, 6 and 9 are quarters.

The big players in telling time are the minute hand and the hour hand. It is important to spend thorough time on the concept of what each means and the difference in length of each. The hour hand is smaller than the minute hand. When the hour hand is on the 7 and the minute hand is on the 12 it is 7 o'clock. So the number 12 is very important when the minute hand is on it but it can be confusing describing the differences between which number the minute hand and hour hand should be on. When the minute hand is on the 1 it represent 5 and 2 is 10 and so on until you reach the 12. It is also important to go through the concept of seconds, minutes and hours. That there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day. The concept of am and pm is important as well, that am represents the morning

The concept of telling time is a very complex and needs to be explained in simple terms that young children can understand. This will take a while to grasp but this chart is just a starting point for the concepts that are essential in teaching this subject.Being able to tell time is a part of our everyday lives it helps us get to places on time, gives us a sense of the future as well as the past. This topic to me is very important for children to understand at an early stage in their educational career.