Time to Five Minutes
Time to Five Minutes is the Year 2 skill of telling and writing the time shown on an analogue clock in 5-minute steps, including the named positions 'quarter past' and 'quarter to', and knowing that there are 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Recap o'clock and half past on a real or model clock first, so the hour and half-hour anchor points are completely secure before 5-minute reading is introduced.
- Teach the two hands separately and by name: the short hour hand shows roughly which hour it is, and the long minute hand shows how many minutes past that hour.
- Point out directly that the numbers 1 to 12 on a clock face do two jobs at once: for the hour hand they mean the hour itself, but for the minute hand each number is a 5-minute count (the minute hand at the 3 means 15 minutes, not 3 minutes).
- Introduce 'quarter past' (minute hand at the 3, meaning 15 minutes past the hour) and 'quarter to' (minute hand at the 9, meaning 15 minutes before the next hour) as special, named clock positions.
- Practise reading the hour hand carefully when it sits between two numbers: just after 4 and before 5 means 'something past 4', not 'nearly 5 o'clock'.
- Fix the most common error directly: children often read 'quarter to 5' as 'quarter past 4' because the hour hand looks close to the 5. Teach them to check the minute hand's position first (at the 9 means 'to') before deciding the hour.
- Move from reading a real clock to drawing hands on a blank clock face for a given time, then to writing times in numbers (e.g. 4:15), and recap that there are 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day.
Worked example
The minute hand on a clock points to the 9, and the hour hand has just passed the 6. What time does the clock show?
- The minute hand pointing to the 9 means the time is a 'quarter to' the next hour.
- The hour hand has just passed 6, which means the next hour it is moving towards is 7.
- Put the two facts together: it is a quarter to 7.
- Written in numbers, this is 6:45 (45 minutes past 6, which is the same time as quarter to 7).
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1How many minutes are there in one hour?Show answer
Answer: 60 minutes
Q2How many hours are there in one day?Show answer
Answer: 24 hours
Q3The minute hand points to the 3. How many minutes past the hour is this?Show answer
Answer: 15 minutes (a quarter past)
Q4Write the time shown when the hour hand is just past the 2 and the minute hand points to the 6.Show answer
Answer: Half past 2 (2:30)
Q5What is another way of saying '15 minutes past 9'?Show answer
Answer: Quarter past 9
Q6A clock shows 4:45. What is another way of saying this time?Show answer
Answer: Quarter to 5
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a KS1 Maths exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
It is 20 minutes past 7 in the morning. Write this time using numbers, in the form hours:minutes.
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A film starts at quarter to 3 and lasts for 30 minutes. What time does the film finish? Show your working.
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Ben says a clock shows quarter past 8, because the hour hand looks close to the 8. The minute hand on this clock actually points to the 9, and the hour hand has not yet reached the 8. Explain why Ben is wrong, and give the correct time.
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
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Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the time to five minutes worksheet pack - 7 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
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