Telling Time to Five Minutes: Practice at Home, Grade 2

Reading minutes on a clock is where skip counting by 5 becomes useful. In Grade 2, children tell and write time to the nearest five minutes, and learn the difference between a.m. and p.m.

What your child is working on

The numbers on the clock face are hours, but they are also five-minute jumps: the 1 is 5 minutes, the 2 is 10 minutes, and so on up to the 12, which is 0 minutes.

Try it at home

Stand a clock where your child can see it and play “Five-minute check” once a day. Ask: “What time is it to the nearest five minutes?” Say it out loud as “ten past four” and also write it as 4:10.

To practice the skip counting, point to each number on the clock and count together: “5, 10, 15, 20…” until you reach 60. Many children find this the missing link.

Where children slip

When the long hand is past the 6, the time is “to” the next hour, but the short hand is still near the old one. For 4:50, the short hand is almost at the 5. Cover the long hand with your hand and let your child guess the hour from the short hand alone.

Practice online

The free Tell time to the nearest five minutes page gives a few clocks at a time. You can see the other time skills on the Grade 2 skills page.