Telling Time to 5-minute Intervals

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Write the Times in Your Copy
5 Class Challenge
6 What Did We Notice?
7 What's Next
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Illustration for Getting Started Look at the clock on the screen. We are going to point to each number, one after the other, starting at the 12. As we touch each number, say the count with me: 5, 10, 15, 20, all the way round to 60.

Here is the puzzle: there are only twelve numbers on the clock, but a whole hour has sixty minutes. So why does each number stand for five minutes, and not just one?

Teacher Notes

Point to each numeral on the IWB clock in turn and have the class chant the fives count round to 60. Give five seconds of quiet think-time on the puzzle question before taking two or three hands-up answers. Revoice the key idea: the twelve numbers split the sixty minutes into twelve equal jumps of five.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

Illustration for Watch and Notice

Ten past 3

Watch the clock. The short hand is just past the 3, so the hour is 3. The long hand is on the 2. We count round in fives from the 12 to the 2: 5, 10. That is ten minutes, so the time is ten past 3.

Twenty-five past 7

Now the short hand is just past the 7. The long hand has reached the 5. Count round in fives: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25. Twenty-five minutes have passed, so this is twenty-five past 7.

Twenty to 10

The long hand has gone past the 6 and is climbing up the left side to the 8. When the long hand is on the left, we count the minutes still to go to the next hour. From the 8 round to the 12 is 20 minutes, so this is twenty to 10.

Five to 12

The long hand is right up near the top, on the 11. There are just five minutes left to reach the 12, so this is five to 12.

Half past and quarter to

Two five-minute times have special names. When the long hand points straight down at the 6, we count 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 — thirty minutes past the hour. Thirty minutes is half the hour, so we say half past. This clock shows half past 1.

When the long hand points at the 9, there are 15 minutes still to go to the next hour. Fifteen minutes is a quarter of the hour, so we say quarter to. This clock shows quarter to 8.

Teacher Notes

Walk each example aloud, one at a time, pausing to let the class count the fives with you before you read the time.

Ten past 3 and twenty-five past 7 — the long hand is on the right, so we are counting past the hour from the 12.
Twenty to 10 and five to 12 — the long hand has crossed the 6, so we switch to counting the minutes to the next hour. This switch is the make-or-break idea of the lesson.
Half past 1 and quarter to 8 — the same fives count with a special name: thirty minutes past is half past, and fifteen minutes still to go is quarter to. Pupils set both themselves in the next step.

For each, ask past or to? before naming the minutes, and confirm with the on-screen ✓.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~11 mins

Now we set five-minute times on the clock ourselves. When a time is named, one of you comes to the board and drags the long hand to the right number while the rest of us count round in fives to check.

We will try: half past 1, twenty past 4, quarter to 8, and five past 11. We met half past and quarter to on the board a moment ago — now we set them ourselves. For each one, look at where the long hand lands. If it has not yet passed the 6, we count minutes past the hour. If it has crossed the 6 and is climbing the left side, we count minutes to the next hour.

Set the time together

Teacher Notes

This round is for talking it through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

The clock loads showing 12 o'clock, so nothing gives the first answer away.

Name a time, send one pupil to drag the long hand to the matching number, and have the whole class count the fives aloud to confirm. Listen for pupils who try to count to when the hand is still on the right side. Revoice: has the long hand gone past the 6 yet? If not, we are still counting past.

Thirty past 1 — long hand on the 6, exactly thirty minutes.
Twenty past 4 — long hand on the 4.
Fifteen to 8 — long hand on the 9, the switch to 'to' has happened.
Five past 11 — long hand on the 1.

+15 XP

4 - Write the Times in Your Copy ~5 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

We write times in words like this: twenty past 4, five to 9 — the minutes first, then 'past' or 'to', then the hour number.

Here are four clock faces — Clock 1 to Clock 4, in order down the screen. In your maths copy, write one line for each clock: the clock's name, then the time it shows, in words. Before you write each one, check which side the long hand is on: right side means a 'past' time, left side means a 'to' time.

Teacher Notes

Give the class quiet writing time. The answers, in order: ten past 2, twenty-five past 6, twenty to 11, five to 4. Walk the room glancing at whether pupils have chosen 'past' or 'to' correctly — no individual marking, this is whole-class copybook practice, not assessment.

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Today we work through these times together at the board: ten past 4, twenty-five past 9, twenty to 6, then five to 1. The 'to' times catch people out, so we will say each one aloud and count the fives before we check it.

Read the five-minute time

Teacher Notes

This round is the practice bank — pupils take turns at the board, check each answer, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

For each target, ask the pupil at the board: do we count minutes past or minutes to the next hour here? The first two are 'past' times; the last two cross the 6 and become 'to' times. Use the on-screen ✓ as part of the narration when a pupil sets the hands correctly.

Watch the last target closely: at five to 1 the short hand sits almost on the 1. Some pupils will say 'five to 12' because the clock still reads twelve-something. Ask which hour comes next? — the short hand is nearly at the 1 because the next hour is 1, so we say five to 1.

+15 XP

6 - What Did We Notice? ~2 mins

MATHS TALK

When the long hand is past the 6, why do we start saying 'to' the next hour instead of 'past'?

Teacher Notes

Listen for pupils naming the 6 as the turning point — once the long hand is climbing the left side, the next hour is closer than the one just gone. Revoice a strong answer: so the side the long hand is on tells us whether to say past or to. Head off the common slip of counting 'past' all the way round to 11.

+10 XP

7 - What's Next ~3 mins

What we learned today

Each number on the clock is five minutes further round, so we count in fives to read the minutes.
When the long hand is on the right, we count minutes past the hour.
Once the long hand passes the 6, we count minutes to the next hour.

Coming up

Next we will match the time on a clock face to the numbers on a digital display, so we can read both kinds of clock.

Teacher Notes

Recap the past-or-to switch one last time. Suggested timing: the IWB-led arc above fills about 42 of the 50 minutes; the rest of the slot is the activity-book page, which pupils work on while you circulate.

+5 XP

Pupil practice

Module 6 · Time and Money Shape & Space

Lesson 61 · Telling Time to 5-minute Intervals

Download Activity Book page (PDF)

End of lesson

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Teacher Class Feed

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

Ten past 3

Twenty-five past 7

Twenty to 10

Five to 12

Half past and quarter to

3 - Try It Together ~11 mins

Set the time together

4 - Write the Times in Your Copy ~5 mins

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Read the five-minute time

6 - What Did We Notice? ~2 mins

7 - What's Next ~3 mins

What we learned today

Coming up

Unlock the full learning experience

XP