Telling the time – Year 2 maths lesson
Lesson 13 of 16 in the Year 2 maths course
UK version. UK school years, UK spelling and pounds (£). · US Math Department
A complete 45-minute lesson for Year 2 (ages 6–7) that runs on this page – at school or at home. Every answer is marked straight away, with a worked explanation.
- Time
- 45 minutes + 15 min homework
- Year
- Year 2 (ages 6–7)
- You need
- Paper, a pencil and this page
- Marked
- Instantly, with explanations
For parents: how to use this lesson
You don't need to know this topic yourself. The lesson explains each step on screen, one tidy step at a time. Every answer is marked straight away with a worked explanation, so you never have to mark anything.
- Read what your child will learn and the big ideas together.
- Press Start the lesson below and sit with your child for the teaching and the worked examples (about 19 minutes).
- Let them do the practice on their own. They choose Getting started, On track or Challenge – start on On track and move up after a few right in a row.
- Finish with the exit ticket and the talk question: “Why does the hour hand move only a little when the minute hand goes all the way round?”
- Later that day or the next day: the homework (15 minutes), then a practice test.
Watch out for
- Mixing up the hour hand and the minute hand. Long hand = long word "minutes".
- Reading the hour wrongly when the hour hand is between two numbers. The hour is the number the short hand has just passed.
Tip for home: Ask "What time is it?" at mealtimes and look at a real clock together.
What your child will learn
We are learning to tell the time to the hour, half hour, quarter hour and five minutes.
Success looks like
- I can tell the time on the hour and half hour.
- I can tell quarter past and quarter to.
- I can count the minutes in 5s.
Key words
- hour hand
- the short hand
- minute hand
- the long hand
- o'clock
- exactly on the hour
- half past
- 30 minutes after the hour
What to have ready
- Paper and a pencil
- This page on a computer, tablet or phone
- For the hands-on part: Use a teaching clock or a paper plate clock. Set times for daily events: breakfast, school, bedtime. No clocks? Draw clock faces and hands on paper plates.
The big ideas (for the adult)
The short hand points to the hour. The long hand points to the minutes.
When the long hand points to 12 it is o'clock; to 6, half past; to 3, quarter past; to 9, quarter to.
Each number on the clock is 5 minutes for the long hand, so count in 5s to find the minutes.
The lesson, step by step
| Part | Time | How it is checked |
|---|---|---|
| Starter: quick recall | 5 min | Marked by Classfern |
| Teaching input | 10 min | Not assessed, self-checked |
| Worked examples and guided practice | 9 min | Not assessed, marked by Classfern |
| Independent practice | 15 min | Marked by Classfern |
| Plenary and exit ticket | 6 min | Marked by Classfern, self-checked |
Starter, "your turn", practice and exit ticket are marked by Classfern. Worked examples and teaching are not assessed. The hands-on task and the reflection are self-assessed. Explanations in talk are judged by the parent and not recorded.
The lesson
It runs here on the page. No sign-up and no names – progress is kept only in this browser.
Homework and practice at home
15 minutes: 8 practice questions, 3 multiple-choice questions and 2 to remember from earlier work, then a short reflection. New questions every time, all marked instantly.
More practice
More Year 2 maths lessons
- Counting in 2s, 5s and 10s
- Tens and ones
- Numbers in words
- Comparing numbers
- Number lines
- Number bonds to 10 and 20
- Adding and subtracting
- The equals sign and missing numbers
- Adding and subtracting word problems
- Multiplication and division
- Recognising fractions
- Counting money
- Measuring length, mass and capacity
- Shapes, position and turns
- Tally charts, pictograms and block diagrams
Curriculum
National Curriculum for England, Year 2: “compare and sequence intervals of time”
National Curriculum for England, Year 2: “tell and write the time to five minutes, including quarter past/to the hour and draw the hands on a clock face to show these times”
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Our lessons and questions are our own. They are not written or endorsed by any government department, testing agency or exam board.