The time has come...to teach Time! Freebie!

So my firsties have been working on learning to tell time to the hour and half hour.  I really was not looking forward to teaching this topic because I did NOT think it was going to go well.  Thankfully, I was wrong!  They were really catching on...even noticing that a half hour is called a half hour because the minute hand goes halfway around the clock!  Seriously, that was THEIR observation!  (One little smarty even pointed out that 30 is half of 60)
So anyways, I was thrilled and the way that I try to reward my students for their excitement and willingness to learn is to create new and engaging centers for them.  I always try to include some kind of authentic material for each of my centers, so I looked around my classroom and into my "Time" drawer and found some extras of the little plastic clocks that come with the math manipulative kits.  I knew how much they loved using those little clocks and new I had to incorporate them into a center.  I came up with this little center called "Beat the Timer".  In it, the students will choose 5 digital time cards and place them face down next to 5 of the little plastic clocks.  They will start a sand timer and attempt to set their clocks to the time on the card before the time runs out.  I created this little recording sheet to go with it.  My kiddos are loving it!  Hope yours will too!

Beat The Timer