Having previously blogged about how I organised teaching time in my classroom, fellow edu-blogger, Jo, inspired me through her response to my post, to try her Time Teller of the Day idea. She explained how she had bought a simple watch which children wear to be the Time Teller of the Day. I thought this was a really easy thing to introduce to encourage children to interact with each other about the time. Full of inspiration, I set to starting this up in my classroom.
I searched for the perfect watch to use for my Time-Tellers. I wanted two so that children get a turn approximately every month. Ideally it needed to have the "to" and "past" language on it with minutes and hours labelled as well. Eventually, I chose this watch from Amazon which, although advertised as a product for boys, is fairly gender-neutral and very easy to read. Also, I bought some clock stickers from PTS and personalised them so they said, 'Ask me: "What's the time?"'
UPDATE RE: The Watch
The straps and links broke after a couple of months so I wouldn't recommend buying one of those. I have replaced them with two of these below. I went for the green one as that matches our school uniform.
Click on an image to open the Amazon Link.
Each morning, as part of registration, I choose two children to be our Time Tellers. In the box which contains the stickers and watches, I put a class list on which I can tick them off as they get their turn. If they are chosen, they get a watch and a sticker and wear both proudly for the whole day. I started off with children opting to be Time Tellers and, after we'd covered analogue clocks in maths, it became more random.
Since starting this, the most visible impact is children are now happy talking about the time and discussing the different ways of saying the same time. They love wearing the watches and are happy to have a go at saying what time it is. Children help each other and give hints and tips when others are struggling. Other classes have asked what the time is and why they get to wear a watch so I think it might be something that could work across a school. As with most things in school, the enthusiasm children have gained from this has allowed them to improve in their understanding.
Love the stickers! I've also ordered another watch - having 2 is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteFab idea! I will be doing this xx
ReplyDeleteJust ordered 4 for my class - thanks for the idea :)
ReplyDeleteI do something similar with my class, but I give them a set time when they are to become a 'cuckoo clock'. At their time they stand up (are allowed to interrupt anything so I plan ahead) and say, 'cuckoo cuckoo the time is...'. Then I say, 'how do we know?' and the whole class explain due to the position of the minute hand at .. and the hour hand at...' . It works really well and gets those who don't like time, really involved. I can then differntiant by telling them the time to cuckoo in either a maths problem to solve, digital or analogue format.
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