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This post has been co-written with Ben Wolfson, a full-time educator and assistant principal in the USA.
When I first made these Daily Routine Cards, it was primarily to help create a visual schedule for my preschooler. I left the clock faces blank so that other parents and teachers like you could fill it in according to your own home or class routines. But, this printable can also help older kids in kindergarten or 1st grade learn to tell the time!
Time is a fluid concept, and nowhere is this more true than in your first grade classroom. To get a visual of this, have your students close their eyes and then stand up when they think one minute has passed. If a child waits until 30 actual seconds have elapsed, they’re doing well! However, they’re also becoming conscious of our agreed-upon method of recording time, and that certain events happen at certain times (especially what times lunch and recess happen at!). This fun telling the time activity will help develop their concept of time as well as helping them learn how to read analog clocks.
Learning to Tell the Time With Daily Routine Cards
Teaching first grade students to tell the time in first grade with an analog clock requires a careful step by step process. Firstly, you need to make sure that they have an idea of how we talk about time, including the difference between AM and PM times. Next, they need to have an idea of reasonableness (i.e. when certain things usually happen). This means that they’ll know that saying they go to bed at 4PM isn’t going to make much sense. Finally, they need to learn about the hour and minute hand and how they indicate the current time. These daily schedule cards with clock give you an excellent starting point to talk about all three of these concepts as well as giving them some hands-on practice for setting and telling the time with analog clocks.
Preparing Visual Routine Cards
For this activity you will need:
Paper
Printer
Writing tools to draw in hands of clock
Optional: laminator
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Extension Activities For Visual Routine Cards
The idea behind these daily routine cards is simple. Students pick one of the cards and work out which of their daily activities is being shown in the picture. They then use the clock to set the time that it happens for them. You can laminate the cards and have students draw the hour and minute hands, or you could make paper hands and use a brad to allow students to manipulate them to the right time. To get more out of these cards, try some of these learning to tell the time activities:
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Put them in order – start this activity by giving them a set of blank daily schedule cards with clock faces and ask them to draw the correct times for each activity. Then mix up the cards and have the students put them in time order from the start of the day to the end. To make this even more challenging, cover up the pictures (but be sure to add AM or PM to the clocks!) so students have to solely rely on their ability to read time to solve the puzzle.
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Compare with a partner – you can introduce some social skills into this telling the time activity by pairing students up and having them compare the times that they chose. You can introduce the language of early and later to develop their mathematical talk.
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Add their own activities – finally, these daily routine cards include the common activities like getting up and eating. You can extend the deck of visual routine cards by giving students a blank copy and ask them to draw other activities that they do throughout the day, including the time that they do the activity.
Looking for more ways to practice kindergarten math skills? I’ve got you covered!
5 amazing worksheet packs are included in this bundle covering everything from number recognition, counting to 20, subitizing, addition to 10, subtraction within 10, word problems, number sequence, comparing numbers, and much more!
Perfect for kindergarten students as homework, morning work, or no-prep math centers in the classroom! Have these on stand-by for fast finishers or substitute teachers!
Grabe The Tools You Need For This Activity:
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