Telling Time to Five Minutes

Reading a clock is like learning a secret code, but it's easy once you know the trick! An analog clock has numbers from $1$ to $12$. While these numbers tell us the hour, they also help us figure out the minutes.

The Clock Face and Skip Counting

Every big number on the clock stands for $5$ minutes. To find out how many minutes have passed, we skip count by $5$s starting from the top at $12$ (which represents $0$ minutes).

• Pointing at $1$ means $5$ minutes
• Pointing at $2$ means $10$ minutes
• Pointing at $3$ means $15$ minutes
• Pointing at $4$ means $20$ minutes

This pattern continues all the way around to $11$ ($55$ minutes). When the hand reaches $12$ again, $60$ minutes have passed, and a brand new hour begins!

Reading the Hands

A clock has two main hands that you need to check:

• The Short Hand (Hour Hand): This tells you the hour. If it is pointing between the $4$ and the $5$, the hour is still $4$. It doesn't become $5$ until it points exactly at the $5$ or passes it.
• The Long Hand (Minute Hand): This tells you the minutes. To read it, just look at the number it points to and skip count by $5$.

Example: Imagine the short hand is halfway between $4$ and $5$. The hour is $4$. The long hand is pointing exactly at the $7$. Let's skip count by $5$s seven times: $5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35$. The time is $4:35$.

Understanding A.M. and P.M.

There are $24$ hours in a day, but the clock only shows $12$ numbers. Because of this, the hour hand goes around the clock twice every single day!

• A.M. (Morning): This is the first half of the day, from midnight until right before noon. You wake up, eat breakfast, and go to school in the a.m.
• P.M. (Afternoon and Evening): This is the second half of the day, from noon until right before midnight. You finish school, eat dinner, and go to sleep in the p.m.

If someone asks, "Is $3:00$ P.M. in the morning or afternoon?" you know the answer: it's in the afternoon!