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Telling Time Worksheets: Hour and Half Hour

13 free PDFsUS Letter or A4Answer key includedNo login

Clock pages for the hour and half hour: read the clock, draw the hands, o'clock or half past, match analog and digital time, and make a paper clock.

Download the telling time worksheets

Clock chart and make a clock

Read the clock

Draw the hands

Match, words, and cut and paste

Print at 100% (actual size) for the cleanest tracing lines.

About these telling time worksheets

In 1st grade, children learn to tell and write time to the hour and the half hour on both clock faces and digital clocks. The key is knowing which hand is which: the short hand tells the hour and the long hand tells the minutes.

Start with the Parts of a Clock chart. It labels the hour hand, minute hand, numbers and minute marks, and shows how the hour hand creeps from 8 toward 9 between 8:00 and 8:30. Then children read clocks and write the time, draw the hands themselves, match clocks to digital times, and pick o'clock or half past in words.

Every clock is drawn precisely. At half past, the hour hand sits exactly halfway between two numbers, just like a real clock, so children learn to read it the right way instead of guessing from the nearest number. Answer keys are on page 2 of every page with one right answer.

Standards

  • CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.B.3Tell and write time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks.

How to use them

  1. Practice with a real clock or the paper clock first. Set 3:00, then move the minute hand all the way around and watch the hour hand move to 4.
  2. When reading a clock, have your child find the short hand first and say the hour, then look at the long hand: on 12 means o'clock, on 6 means half past.
  3. On the draw-the-hands pages, remind your child to draw the hour hand short and the minute hand long, reaching to the minute marks.
  4. Use "My Day" to talk about real times: when do you get up, eat lunch and go to bed?
  5. "O'Clock or Half Past?" is a good check. The wrong choices are the two mistakes children make most.

Teaching tips

  • The most common half-hour mistake: at 3:30 the hour hand is close to 4, so children say 4:30. It is still 3 until the hour hand reaches 4.
  • If the hands get mixed up, call them the short hour hand and the long minute hand every time, and have your child trace each one with a finger.
  • Digital time has two parts: the hour before the dots and the minutes after. Half past is always :30.
  • Glue the paper clock to a cereal box before cutting so it lasts all year.

Questions teachers and parents ask

What time skills do 1st graders learn?

First graders tell and write time to the hour and half hour on clock faces and digital clocks. Quarter hours and five-minute times come in 2nd grade.

Where does the hour hand point at half past?

Halfway between two numbers. At 7:30 the hour hand is halfway between 7 and 8 and the minute hand points to 6. Our clocks are drawn this way on every page.

How can I help my child tell the hands apart?

Say "short hour hand, long minute hand" every time. On our clocks the hour hand is shorter and wider, and the minute hand reaches the minute marks.

Do the telling time worksheets have answer keys?

Yes. Every page with right answers has an answer key on page 2 of the same PDF. On the draw-the-hands keys you can compare your child's clock hand by hand.

How do I make the paper clock?

Print the Make a Paper Clock page, glue it to card, and cut out the face and both hands. Push a paper fastener through the dot on each hand and the middle of the clock, with the minute hand on top.