Annotated Bib - Time

Learning about time includes an understanding of three important concepts. The first is the duration of time. Secondly, one must understand the concept of sequence of events. And last, the mechanics of reading time pieces.

Books


A Child's Calendar By John Updike. Illus. by Trina Schart Hyman. 2002. 32p. Holiday House Publishing, (9780823417667). Gr. K-3. Includes a collection of 12 poems describing the activities in a child's life and the changes in the weather throughout each month of the year. Colorful, detailed illustrations accompany the poems. In addition to teaching the months of the year, it is a great way to introduce poetry.





All In A Day By Cynthia Rylant. Illus. by Nikki McClure. 2009. 32p. Abrams Books, (9780810983212). Gr. K-4. This book highlights and lists the many possibilities a day offers. The story presents the lesson that opportunities and chances that occur may not be offered a second time and encourages seizing the moment and the notion of how time is fleeting. The illustrations are fascinating, each cut from a single piece of black paper using an X-Acto knife.





A Second Is A Hiccup By Hazel Hutchins. Illus. by Kady MacDonald Denton. 2007. 40p. Arthur A. Levine Books, (9780439831062). Gr. PreK-3. This book explains units of time in imaginative terms children can understand, using nonstandard units to explain standard units. For example, a second lasts as long as a hiccup; a week is seven sleeps; and a year is the time it takes to grow into new shoes. This book can be used to teach how long a minute is or what an hour means without simply saying a minute is 60 seconds or an hour is 60 minutes.

Game Time! By Stuart Murphy. Illus. by Cynthia Jabar. 2000. 40p. HarperCollins Publishing, (9780064467322). Gr. 1-3. This book uses a championship soccer game to teach about the units of time such as weeks (building up to the game) and hours and quarter hours (via a scoreboard's countdown and clock). The emphasis is put on the learning and teaching about reading clocks, understanding hours and time, but integrating days and weeks into the story also helps provide the larger context and measurement of time.

How Do You Know What Time It Is? By Robert E. Wells. Illus. by Robert E. Wells. 2002. 32p. Albert Whitman & Company, (9780807579404). Gr. 2-4. This book provides an age-appropriate depiction of the history of measuring time from simply observing the movement of the sun to using shadow stick clocks to our modern analog clocks. In this story, children will read about time zones, meridian lines, quartz crystals, and the science behind time. While the science side to telling time is complicated, Wells' informal style and dialogue makes this a great tool for teaching the concepts to children.

What Time Is It, Mr. Crocodile? By Judy Sierra. Illus. by Doug Cushman. 2007. 32p. Sandpiper Publishing, (978152058500). Gr. preK-3. In this story, main character, Mr. Crocodile, is determined to make a feast of the 5 little monkeys that have been pestering him. He creates an agenda for catching, cooking, and eating the five monkeys. However, his plans are continuously ruined by the clever monkeys. Each illustration includes a clock that displays the time corresponding to Mr. Crocodile's original agenda.

Websites


The Adventures of CyberBee This site is full of lesson plans and teaching tips along with interactive games and tools for students to practice what they’ve learned. This site provides a “Time Teacher” section that produces quiz questions and generates the score and correct answers. For example, one question provides an interactive clock that requires the user to move the hands of the analog clock to what time they think it is.

Apples 4 the Teacher This site provides interactive games and activities for teachers to utilize in their lesson to give students practice on the subject of time. Some of these activities include an analog clock practice game, interactive calendar, world clock, and nursery rhymes that use telling time.

Just In Time This site includes lesson plans, print materials, and interactive activities on telling time using seconds, minutes, and hours on a clock as well as the changing of time using seasons, the she sun and calendars. The site provides a template for writing a story about time.

Time for Time This website is a great resource for both those teaching students to tell time and for students who are learning to tell time. The site includes lesson plans, class clock for teaching, and a worksheet generator for teachers. For students, the site includes games, quizzes, and an interactive practice clock. There is information on the history of time as well as on U.S. and world time zones.

Time Monsters Time Monsters teaches children to tell time without a single word of written text. All lessons on time are presented through animated lessons. The Time Monster site is filled with interactive clocks, more than 72 animations, eighteen quizzes, and fun, in-depth explanations on learning to tell time. The site does not use or discuss digital clocks.

For Teachers


K.9 The student will tell time to the hour, using analog and digital clocks.

Curriculum Framework

• Many experiences in relating time on the hour to daily routines and school schedules (e.g., catching the bus, lunch time, recess time, and resource time) help students develop personal referents for time.
• Making sense of telling time to the nearest hour is reinforced when students recognize the positions of the hands on an analog clock and identify the corresponding time to the hour.

1.8 The student will tell time to the half-hour, using analog and digital clocks.

Curriculum Framework

• Many experiences using clocks help students develop an understanding of the telling of time to the half-hour, including: identifying the parts of an analog clock (minute and hour hands); demonstrating a given time to the half-hour, using a model clock; writing correct digital time to the half-hour; and relating time on the half-hour to daily routines and school schedules (e.g., the times of TV programs, bedtime, resource time, lunch time, recess time).

2.12 The student will tell and write time to the nearest five minutes, using analog and digital clocks.

Curriculum Framework

• Telling time requires reading a clock. The position of the two hands on an analog clock is read to tell the time.
• The use of a demonstration clock with gears ensures that the positions of the hour hand and the minute hand are precise at all times.
• The face of an analog clock can be divided into 4 equal parts, called quarter hours, of 15 minutes each.

2.13 The student will determine past and future days of the week; andidentify specific days and dates on a given calendar.

Curriculum Framework

• The calendar is a way to represent units of time (e.g., days, weeks, and months).Using a calendar develops the concept of day as a 24-hour period rather than a period of time from sunrise to sunset.
• Practical situations are appropriate to develop a sense of the interval of time between events (e.g., Boy Scout meetings occur every week on Monday: there is a week between meetings).