Telling Time and Elapsed Time Lesson Plans and Activities

Hey Hey!

We just wrapped up our elapsed time unit and let me just say....WHEW! It was fun, but it was a challenge. Partly because so many of my third graders came to me struggling to even tell time. #yikes

I began by giving my kids a pre-assessment to determine if they even knew how to tell time. I was blown away by how many students couldn't not correctly write the correct hour. They understood how to find the minute hand, but when the minute had was past 30 minutes and the hour hand gets close to the next hour---so many of my kids were adding an hour because it was "closer".

To snag the telling time assessment template for free {CLICK HERE}

I used this template so I could easily group my kids for math small groups. After small groups, I gave them my {telling time quiz} again and then gave the the highest grade to put in the grade book.

If you have a subscription,
BrainPopJr also has great time videos!

Tip:

Do you have those kids that still struggled trying to determine the hour hand? Try this simple trick

To snag this poster {CLICK HERE}

Now that we have FINALLY (hopefully) mastered how to tell time, we can now start elapsed time. 

In my little opinion, teaching elapsed time on a number line makes the most sense. Sometimes the kids get confused on the carts, so I decided I would teach them that second and let them choose which was easier for them 

A trick that really helped my kids with elapsed time, was to break apart the elapsed time into manageable benchmark times. I had them look at the elapsed time and break it apart by hours, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, and 1 minute. Sure, they can break it apart by 30 minutes, BUT when the time is 12:45 and they are trying to add 30 minutes to that, they end up messing up their calculations. 

Take a look: 

I had the kids decompose the elapsed time using the benchmark times mentioned above. 

As the kids added the times, they circled them to remind themselves that they have already added the numbers. Do you see how I added the 5 minutes before the 10 minutes?

This is because this made more sense us when using friendly numbers. 

I love it when my kids can practice in a fun way! 

Have you heard of these dry erase pockets? I use them for everything! 

Check out how I use them in a blog posts {HERE}.

To snag one of these write on wipe off templates {CLICK HERE}. 

I love integrating {QR Codes} in the classroom! It's such an excellent way for the kids to check their work and at the same time I am able pull {small groups} without the hassle of kids constantly coming up to me! 

Well---they still come up at times lol, but not at a crazy rate ;) 

If you would like the big elapsed time unit, click the image below! 

I hope this was a Peppy Zesty idea for you! (:

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Interactive Notebook Hack

Hey everyone! It's Angela from Hippo Hooray for Second Grade popping in. Interactive Notebooks are all the rage these days, and today I want to share a tip for implementing them with ease!

First Things First: What are Interactive Notebooks?

An interactive notebook is a place where students can take information supplied from the teacher and merge it with their own thinking. Interactive notebooks differ from traditional note taking, in that they allow students to stop and interact with the new information and receive feedback from the teacher and classmates about their understanding of the new information, instead of just copying down notes from a book or the board and having no clue what they're writing.

Want to know a way to make your interactive notebooking easier? 
Here's what you do! 

Buy sticky notes! And LOTS of them!!

Oh my goodness, sticky notes have saved my interactive notebooking life! These little gems can be used in so many ways, giving you and your students back the time the need to actually learn (not cut out a bunch of little pieces of paper!). Here are a few ways I use sticky notes:

1. Sticky notes as flip flaps

Don't have time to create a cute foldable? Or maybe the task of cutting is just too time consuming for your students. No worries! Just give your kids sticky notes. They label what's underneath right on top of the sticky note, which will help to increase student ownership of the notebooks. I do like to come around with clear tape while the students are working and put a small piece at the top, just to make sure the sticky notes don't fall out of the notebooks.

2. Sticky notes for tabbing sections

Again, another way for students to take ownership of the creation of their notebooks is for them to make the tabs for the sections of their notebooks. They write the heading on the opposite end of the sticky side, and put it on their table of contents page for the section. I like to use a different color for each section. Then I cover the whole sticky note with clear packaging tape so that they are durable.

3. Sticky notes for labeling the left side/right side

My students use the left side of their notebooks as the "Thinking Side" (the output/interacting side), and the right side of the notebook as the "Information Side" (the input/note taking side). So I use red/pink and green sticky notes to label the sides. Red for the Thinking Side: STOP and think! Green for the Information Side: GO ahead and learn! Again, I cover these with clear packaging tape.

If you want to learn more about how I use interactive notebooks in my class, click HERE! I also have a Pinterest board dedicated to all the interactive notebook gems I find online:

Follow Hippo Hooray for Second Grade's board Interactive Notebooks on Pinterest.

What else do you use sticky notes for? Leave me a comment below!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Beat the End of the Year Blues

Guess what time of year it is? Yep. YOU GUESSED IT. The time of year where my students all of a sudden "don't remember our class expectations"...ha.. RIGHT. So that means it is time to revamp my classroom management!
I have many tricks I use in my classroom all year round, but some I leave until the end of the year to bring out! 

The first is my V.I.P table. I loved loved doing this in my classroom last year. Rachel at The Tattooed Teacher blogged about it---genius I tell you!!

First... I moved our rug from our classroom library to the middle of the room, brought in a table, and got to work making it VIP-ish! Their table is labeled with big bright letters.. V.I.P...HEY HEY!... They even get their own table sign. 

Then, I put together their *own* set of special supplies. oh yes, it's special I tell you! Things like: pens, highlighters, markers, pencils, erasers, tissue, hand sanitizer (seriously their FAV!), sticky notes, scissors, etc! 

I choose 3 VIPS a week, and each VIP gets to wear a V.I.P. badge ALL WEEK. 

I like to also give them special privileges..things like: pack up first, line up first, shoes off, keep their water bottle at their desk all-darn- day! (yes, this is HUGE!) work on the carpet...oh and you better believe no other students may walk on their carpet. ;) I also let them be my personal paparazzi. They can use our devices to take pictures for our classroom Instagram! 

Let me tell you, my students are SERIOUS about this table. It is a BIG deal. Last year I saw a huge turn around of classroom behavior since introducing it. I have seen those students that really don't care about incentives or feel like they can't earn anything work SO hard to earn this special privilege! I encourage you to think about if this would work for your classroom and try it out!

You can grab all the things I use in my classroom FOR FREE HERE! :)

Another thing I love really using in my classroom around this time are Brag Tags! You can give brag tags for any and everything! I like to give mine out randomly. 

I give out brag tags for students who pass a certain amount of lessons on our Think Through Math program. 

I give a brag tag to our Secret Student when we have one.

I also hand them out in various parts of the day when I see someone working very hard on math, reading, science, etc! The students love keeping their necklace in the classroom and wearing it throughout the day! 

I have a growing pack of brag tags in my store HERE if you want to check them out before the price goes up soon!!

I hope these tips help you make it to the end of your school year!! You can do it! Be sure to follow my classroom management board on Pinterest for more ideas!! 

Follow Teach Create Motivate's board Classroom Management on Pinterest.