Every Single Minute

Teaching exact minutes

Prerequisites: confident reading to five minutes (past and to), and counting in fives.

Suggested sequence (15–20 min)

1. Zoom in: Point out there are 60 ticks. “How many between the 3 and the 4?” (4, plus the 5-minute tick)
2. Anchor and count on: Always start from the last multiple of 5. Say “15… 16, 17”.
3. Bridge to digital: Write the digital time each time, including the zero in 2:06.
4. Practice: Projector view, starting with one or two ticks past a number and working up to “Any minute!”.

Common misconceptions

• Counting every tick from 12. Slow and error-prone; teach “anchor then count on”.
• Hour hand confusion. At 8:38, the hour hand is nearly at 9, but the hour is still 8.
• Forgetting the zero. 2:06, not 2:6.

Questions to ask

• “What’s the last big number the long hand passed? So how many minutes is that?”
• “How many ticks past is it? So what is the time?”

Curriculum links

UK Year 3: tell and write the time from an analogue clock, including Roman numerals from I to XII, to the nearest minute. US CCSS 3.MD.1: tell and write time to the nearest minute.

What your child is learning

Your child is learning to read the time to the exact minute by counting the small tick marks on from the last 5-minute number.

Why it can feel tricky

• The ticks are small and close together, so it’s easy to miscount.
• It combines two skills: counting in 5s and then counting in 1s.

Easy ways to help at home

• Ask for the exact time at natural moments: “What time is it exactly?”
• Practice counting in fives, then on in ones: “35, 36, 37, 38.”
• Use a clock with all 60 ticks visible and let your child point to each minute.
• Keep it short and playful. 2 or 3 minutes at a time is plenty.

Try this: “The long hand is two ticks past the 7. What’s 35 + 2?” (37 minutes!)