Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Telling Time

Over the course of my clinical placement the students have been working very hard on learning to tell time. Learning to tell time is a very difficult concept for students to grasp. Last week my cooperating teacher introduced telling time by the quarter hour. This concept was very difficult for students to understand and was also very frustrating to teach. The students now have had many more opportunities to practice telling time to the quarter hour and they have become much better at it. Knowing how to tell time is a very important concept for students to grasp and one that takes a long time to master. The students in my clinical placement love to play math games so I was looking for some games that the students could play that would help them to practice telling time. I found a few games that I think the students would really enjoy.

I found some very interesting activities and games on a website called Teaching Time which is especially dedicated to teaching students how to tell time. There are two games on the website that I believe students would really enjoy, the first is called Stop the Clock and the second is called Bang on the Time. Both games ask students to read a specific time and match it to a clock or stop a clock that is moving on the specific time that is given. I believe that students who have a fun time playing these games and would be able to self-assess their own understanding.

I found one other website called Time for Telling that provided a game that students could play with a partner using dice. This game is called Just in Time. The game board would need to be printed for students to use. This game would be more difficult for students to self assess but it would still be very fun and valuable for students.