Time Telling Tips with a Freebie

I have some fun and great time telling ideas and resources that will reach many grade levels. Time is one of the hardest skills to learn. Think about it, we do not see analog clocks these days. Everything is digital! Students still need to learn the concept of time and on an analog clock is the best place to start. You need to understand how time works on an analog clock before you can understand the digital clock. 

Keep reading below to see a few tips and ideas to reinforce time in the classroom, grab a free worksheet, and preview some resources to use to help practice. Here are some time telling tips that I know will help students grasp the concept of time. 

• Tip #1: To help students understand the hands on the clock, here is a tip that ALWAYS works. I write the word, "minute" and "hour" on the whiteboard. I ask the students which is the longer word? Minute is the longer word so it gets the longer hand. Hour is the shortest word so it gets the shortest hand. This tip seems to work and they are able to keep the hands straight. 

• Tip #2: Start teaching the o'clock times (12:00, 3:00, 7:00)  and understand that there are 12 hours with 60 minutes for each hour and that the clock goes around two times to make a complete 24 hours a day. This makes a morning (a.m) and an afternoon (pm). Hours are always stated first and minutes come after the colon. For little students this may be hard to understand. Keep your lessons short, fun, and consistent. Ask students daily questions about the clock. For example, if I was eating breakfast, would that be in the a.m hours or p.m hours? How many hours are in a day? How many times does the clock go around to make a full day? 

• Tip #3: Next start counting the minutes by 5's. Make sure your students are proficient in counting by 5's at least to 60. Then make aware of the quarter hours. Students should start to become proficient in reading the clock without counting too. For example if the minute hand is on the 6. Students should start to be aware that is 30 minutes without counting every time. Students should also start to do some simple elapsed time. If I start reading at 1:00 and read for 30 minutes, what time will I be done? 

Here are a set of 24 task cards to the nearest 5 minute. Cut the boards in half and place them at your math center. Students use the recording sheet to record the time from 8 clocks. This pack can be used during your math lessons instead of worksheets or use them at your small group time to practice and reinforce time. Here is a peak at one of the boards:

Instead of the task cards above, I also have Write and Wipe task boards to the nearest 5 minutes. This pack includes 10 boards to tell the time on the clock and 10 boards to draw the hands on the clock. Students can check their answer on the answer key or you can check for understanding. Laminate each board or put them in a page protector. Students use a dry erase marker to write on the board. Then they wipe the board and it's ready for the next student. These work great to use instead of worksheets. They also work great at centers and during your small group time. Here are 2 examples of the task boards:

I also have a set of 16 worksheets all about time to the nearest 5 minute. If you are not into task cards, worksheets might be your thing. These are clear, crisp, and clean time telling worksheets. Students write the time, draw the hands, and do a few elapsed time problems. These worksheets can be used for extra classwork, sent home for homework, or used as assessments. Of course if you're visiting my blog, you'll find a FREEBIE. I included one of the worksheets from this pack below. Click on the picture to try telling time the the nearest 5 minute worksheet. Just print and you're ready to start learning time or at least see where your students are at about telling time!

• Tip # 4: Once students master the 5 minute intervals, move on to minutes. 

For 2nd graders and up, try this great activity that will keep your students on their toes. I give each student a sticky note and instruct them to place it on their desk. I tell the students that when I say, "Time!", everyone stops what they are doing. Looks at the clock on the wall, and records the time on their sticky note. I do this 4 or 5 times throughout the day. At the end of the day, I collect their sticky note and evaluate if they recorded the correct times. You can also do this with 5 minute intervals, but you would have to call "Time" at the exact 5 minute time. It can be done, but harder to keep track of time. I've used this idea with 2nd-4th grade students. Each grade thought it was great and  begged me to do it more often. 

Do you need some time to the nearest minute resources to help students practice more? Here are Time to the Minute Task Boards to the nearest minute. I love these boards! They are so easy to use at a moment's notice or as a quick small group review. Students write the time from 12 clock or draw the hands to show the time. These task boards will help practice telling time to the nearest minutes. These are great to have in the classroom too. These task boards can be used for seat work, math centers, or during small group time. Click the pictures below to read more about them. 

This pack includes 24 task cards. Students write the time on the recording sheet. There are 8 clocks for each task card. These are great for math centers and small groups. 

• Tip #5 Then move on to more advanced elapsed time. Around this time students should begin adding time. For example, if I went shopping for 2 hours and 10 minutes and I did errands for 1 hour and 50 minutes. How much time did I spend doing things?

This pack of Elapsed Time Task Card has 3 different sets. Each set of task cards use time to the nearest 5 minutes. There are 3 different ways to use elapsed time. There are a total of 48 task cards in this set. Click the picture to read more about it and check out the preview!

If you don't like task cards, try the mini workbook worksheets. There are 32 half pages that students need to tell the time and answer some questions about the time. These are great for your morning work or as exit tickets. They are also work great for extra practice or as an assessment. 

Bingo anyone? If you are teaching time to the hour, half-hour, quarter hour, and to the nearest 5 minutes, you might want some fun bingo games. These bingo boards are perfect for beginners! There are only 8 squares. Students can cover the top row, bottom row, 4 corners, or coverall/ Here is an example of a bingo board. 

Each pack is separated by skill or in a bundle with all 3 together. The first pack is only time to the hour and half-hour. The second pack adds on quarter hour. The third pack is time to the nearest 5 minutes.

There are 30 bingo boards in each pack. Therefore, you can play time bingo with the entire class. Students can also play bingo in small groups or at math centers. You can also use these boards during small group time. Give students a bingo board and a white board. Have them write all 8 times on the clock from each bingo card. Check for understanding. Plus these boards are adorable! Very engaging and ready for your classroom. Some prep is needed. Print and cut-out each bingo board and laminate for durability. A set of calling cards are included in each pack.

Here are some classroom resources your might need teaching your time unit. Click on the links below:
Classroom Clock Kit
Little Class Clocks
Beginner Clock Kit
How to Tell Time Book
What Time Is It Game
Teaching Clock
Timely Game

It's TIME to wrap it up.
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Free Holiday Writing Prompts

Today I am delivering 3 FREE writing prompts to use during the holiday season. Two of the prompts are for personal narratives or paragraph writing. The 3rd prompt is a "How To" writing. Plus, a final draft writing page is included. 

These prompts will be perfect for you to see where you need to go with your writing lessons when you start the new year in January. Do students need to add more details in their writing? Do they need to work on their conventions? Do they need more work on forming paragraphs? Not only are these writing prompts helpful to you, they will get your students motivated to write. The prompts are kid friendly and will get them thinking. The 3 prompts include: The Best Gift I Ever Received, The Gift For Someone Special, and How To Make A Gift that Doesn't Cost Money.

These FREE writing prompts can be used for your writing lessons, sent home for homework, for early finishers, or at your writing centers. Just click and print. Click the example pictures below to download these freebies. 

Here are more writing ideas to use in your classroom:

Here are older blog posts about writing:
10 Ways to Improve Writing Skills
Build Better Sentences
Transition Words

Here are some Holiday Writing Paper you may like:
Holiday Paper
Holiday Note Pads
Lined Writing Paper
Magnetic Handwriting Paper
Skip a Line Paper

Happy Holidays!
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Classroom Christmas Craft

I have the cutest Christmas craft to make as a gift for your students' parents or to hang on their Christmas tree. It's a tiny chalkboard with their picture on it and a message like Merry Christmas. You don't need many supplies to make this and you probably have all the supplies in your classroom. 

Each child will need:

• 4 popsicle sticks
• their class picture
• 9x12 black construction paper (cut into fourths)
• 8 in. string
• 7 in ribbon
• Q-tip
• Glue
• White colored pencil or chalk 

Students need 1/4 of the black construction paper and the rest of the supplies. I cut the Q-tip piece in the middle of the stick to form the little piece of chalk that sits on the tiny chalkboard shelf. You could cut at least 3 little chalk pieces from one q-tip to save on supplies. In the past, I have also used the end of the stick of a sucker or lollipop to use as the tiny chalk. 

Students assemble their tiny chalkboard as above. Glue the 4 popsicle sticks around the black construction paper to form a tiny chalkboard. They will need to cut the extra black construction paper that will hang over so that it fits perfectly around the craft sticks. Everything is glued on. The string that hangs should be glued between the construction paper and the popsicle sticks. Students write a message on their tiny chalkboard like Merry Christmas or anything they want.

Here are all the supplies you will need: 

I had the students wrap their tiny chalkboards and give as a gift to their parents. You do not need to wrap these, that is only optional. Students can just bring these home unwrapped to hang on their tree or around their house. 

I have this fun holiday game with Santa as the theme. Students add 2 dice, they add 10 more, and subtract 1. These math games are great to play if your students need a boost in number sense or for early finishers. There are 10 game boards that have different adding methods on each one. These games are perfect for 1st-3rd grades. Click the pictures below to read more about it. 

I also have this Winter Activities Pack. It has over 30 ideas to use for math, reading, and writing. You can use all the ideas all winter long. It has a winter theme with penguins. It includes task cards and worksheets. This Winter pack is perfect for 2nd-3rd graders. Click the picture to see all the activities in this pack. 

Have fun making this craft!
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Cause and Effect Relationships and Some Freebies

Cause and Effect is one of the hardest concepts to teach and understand for many students. I have a few ideas that might make teaching cause and effect a little easier for you and your students. 

The first thing you will need when teaching cause and effect is a poster to show how cause and effect relationships work. You can create one yourself or use this FREE poster on the left. Just click on the picture to download this FREE cause and effect poster. The poster can help reinforce the concept of cause and effect relationships for students to understand better. Students can refer back to the poster when reviewing or applying their own concepts of cause and effect. 

How do you show students how cause and effect works? Here are some ideas to use that don't cost anything or take time to make. 

• Turn on and off the lights in the classroom.  What's the cause of the darkness (flipping the switch) and the effect (the room got darker)? 
• Blow up a balloon and pop it with a needle. What caused the balloon to pop?
• Roll a ball to knock over dominos. What made the dominos fall?
• Put an ice cube outside to melt. What caused the ice cube to melt? What was the effect of the ice melting? 

There are many ways to show students cause and effect relationships that you can find around the classroom. You can use other examples they may understand, like "If I do my homework, I'll learn new things."

Here is a sentence example I give students: The girl fell off her bike when she hit a rock. I ask students which is the cause and which is the effect of this sentence? The cause always answers why. So I ask the students, "Why did the girl fall off her bike?" Because she hit a rock. But if I ask, "Why did she hit a rock?", the answer cannot be because she fell off her bike. The cause will always answer why and the effect will always show what happened. 

If it was cold outside, how would you know it? Maybe by putting on a jacket or hat. Why would you need a jacket or a hat? Because it's cold outside. The desire to stay warm is the cause and wearing warm clothes is the effect. When something happens because something else makes it happen, it's cause and effect. 

When students recognize cause and effect relationships, it can help them understand how and why events happen in a story. It can also help them understand a character's feelings, actions, or motivations. When we learn about events that happen which cause other events to happen we are learning about cause and effect relationships. 

Here is a FREE graphic organizer to show different ways what could happen because of a cause. Use the middle of the flower to list a cause like, "Thunderstorms". Use the petals on the flower to show the effects because of the cause, like "broken branches, flooding, lightning.  

You will need some examples of cause and effect sentences and ideas to show students. This pack is loaded with teaching material or ideas to use as part of your lessons or at centers. Here are some examples in the pack:

I also have a small version of cause and effect in a winter theme. This pack offers a poster to display cause and effect relationships, task cards to match cause with the effect, a story about Penny the penguin, and 4 worksheets with a winter theme. Click the picture on the left to read more about what's included in the pack and to check out the preview.  

You will find plenty to do in both packs that show examples of cause and effect relationships. All ideas are great for your reading centers or for your cause and effect lessons.  

Here is a list of literature books I've used that have a lot of Cause/Effect relationships in them:

• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
• Tacky the Penguin
• Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears

Hopefully you've picked up a few ideas to use with your cause and effect unit. Cause and effect is an important critical thinking skill that will lead to a deeper understanding of the events in a book or even in their own lives.

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Pumpkin Themed Resources for the K-5th Grade Classrooms

I have a few fun pumpkin ideas for you to use this fall season. Scroll down below to see all my pumpkin resources. Some are FREE and some are paid products. Click on the pictures below to read more about them. 

FREE Pumpkin Glyph is a fun project to do with students during the fall or holiday season. This glyph uses a legend that students have to follow to make a pumpkin that describes them. Once all the pumpkins are made, see if the students will be able to tell which pumpkin belongs to which student. Click the picture on the left to download it from TPT.

Here are 3 PLACE VALUE blocks that students match the blocks with the number. These packs have 10s, 100s, amd 1000s place. Click on the pictures below to read more about them. 

Here is a FUN and FREE game to help learn addition facts. Cut apart all the addition task cards and place them in a coffee can. Students take turns drawing task cards and stating the sum on each one. If the student says the correct sum, they get to keep the card. If the students says the wrong sum, they have to the card back in the coffee can. If a student picks a Poison Pumpkin card, they have to put ALL their cards back in the can. Beware! This game gets a little loud. But the students are learning and having fun too! Click on the picture to download this freebie and start playing it today. 

Do your students need some help distinguishing from antonyms and synonyms? This pack has 50 task cards using a pumpkin theme. Students decide if the 2 words on the task cards are antonyms or synonyms. This comes in a cute pumpkin theme. These task cards may brighten up your reading centers this fall season.

Pumpkin "_ed" Sounds has 40 task cards. Students try to find the matching word that makes the same ending sound. Another cute pumpkin theme to use for your reading centers. These are perfect for 1st and 2nd graders. 

I'm also trying my hand at clipart. Here are the pumpkins I made. Click on the picture below to read more about it. 

Thanks for stopping by today. When I make more pumpkin resources, I'll post them here. Check back later for updates. 

See you soon,

Click the picture on the left to see Halloween, Fall, or Apple themed resources. 
 

Click the picture on the left to find Free and Paid resources for Fall. All resources are for K-5th grade classrooms.