Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template

Grade Level: 3rd Grade

Topic: Telling Time and Elapsed Time
Rationale: (Why are you teaching these objectives? Why did you select the instructional
strategies that you did?)
I am working with small groups of students (5-7 students) who have already been
introduced to basic information for this lesson. Working together as a group on the worksheet
will ensure that I, as the instructor, can make sure the students understand the material before
adding new information. This also ensures that students are actually engaging with the material
instead of either, not working when I am not focused on them or speeding through the sheet
without trying to understand the problem. I am teaching these objectives because some of the
students in the class have some difficulty telling time to the minute, other students have
demonstrated that they can successfully tell time to the minute. Using the small group setting I
can work with students in the area that they most need practice, whether it is telling time or

Enduring Understandings: (What big idea(s) will students understand as a result of this
lesson?)
-

Students will understand that elapsed time is the amount of time that has passed since a
set start time.

Essential Questions: (What question(s) will students grapple with as they learn through this
lesson?)
-

How do you tell the minute hand from the hour hand?
How can you tell if the time is before the hour or after the hour?
How do you calculate elapsed time?

Primary Content Objectives:

Students will know: (facts/information)

Students will know the difference between the minute and the hour hand on an analog
clock
Students will know that if the hour hand is between two numbers then the number it has
just passed is the hour it still is (ex. Between the five and the six, it is five some
number of minutes)
Students will know that elapsed time is the amount of time expended in a set period.

Students will be able to do: (skills and behaviors)

-

Students will be able to tell time to the nearest minute on an analog clock
Students will be able to use a time given to identify the hand positions on an analog
clock.
Students will be able to establish elapsed time in one-hour increments over a 12-hour
period.

Related state or national standards: (Examples include State Standards of Learning, Common
Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards or National Curriculum Standards for
Social Studies)
-

Virginia Math S.O.L 3.11: The student will

a) Tell time to the nearest minute, using analog and digital clocks; and
b) Determine elapsed time in one-hour increments over a 12-hour period.

Assessment: (How (and when) will students be assessed? What evidence will you collect to
determine whether students have met the lesson objectives? Will the assessment(s) be a preassessment (diagnostic), formative (ongoing feedback) or summative?)
-

Students will be formally assessed using a formative assessment when they fill out a fill
out a blank clock sheet. They will be told a time that they will have to find on their clock
manipulatives and then draw on the sheet. This sheet will be turned to help ensure that
students are able to properly tell time using increments down to the minute.
Clock manipulatives will also be used as informal formative assessments of students
understanding of the minute and hour hand, as well as their ability to tell time to the
minute.
I will also be using questions to informally assess students ability to read a clock and
correctly identify the time to the minute.

Materials and Resources: (List here all materials that you will need in order to successfully
teach this lesson. Include technology and website links, texts, graphic organizers, student
handouts, physical manipulatives, etc.)
-

Clock manipulatives for each individual students, and one for the teacher.
Blank Clock Worksheet (attached below)

White boards and markers

Key Vocabulary and Definitions:

-

Elapsed Time: How much time has gone by

Increments: Measurements, usually of time but not necessarily limited to time (e.g.
seconds, minutes, hours, etc)

Lesson Procedures:
1. Introduction and goal orientation (Minutes 0-2):
- Students will be in a small group around the large table.
- I will start the lesson by introducing the topic: Today we are going on telling time,
and maybe working on establishing elapsed time.
- I will explain that the first thing we need to focus on is making sure that we can read
analog clocks to the minute.
2. Connecting to prior knowledge and experiences (Minutes 3-8): (Questions or activities
that help students make links)
- I will ask the students what some of the rules for reading clocks that they remember
from previous lessons
o If it is in between the numbers, then the hour is whatever number was just
passed
o The short hand is the hour hand, the long hand is the minute hand.
- The rules for reading the hour hand are similar to reading the minute hand
- I will use a clock manipulative to test them on a few examples, if they seem to
understand telling time to the minute (The upper group most likely will) then I will
proceed directly to working on elapsed time.
3. Tasks and activities (Minutes 9-18): (What challenging tasks and activities will students
engage in as they construct knowledge, learn new skills or behaviors and develop
understandings?)
- For working on telling time to the minute
o I will explain to students that, when reading an analog clock for minute
increments you must understand their 5s multipliers.
Each big number represents a multiple of 5 (1=5, 2=10, etc.)
The tick marks between each large number are one minute a piece
As I describe this I can use the manipulatives to help give a concrete
example of what I am talking about.
Use a few examples to ensure the students understand (If the hand is
on the four, demonstrate with the manipulative, how many minutes
does that represent?)
o Every tick mark after the big numbers represents a minute. If the minute hand
is in between big numbers we can find the time down to the minute by
counting the number of ticks past the big number the hand is.
Use a few examples.

o Now we are going to practice reading time to the minute.

Ensure the students understand that when writing a time on a digital
clock the hour comes first, followed by the minutes.
Using the blank worksheet practice telling time to the minute.
Alternate between:
o giving them the time vocally and having them
represent the time on their manipulative and then
drawing it on their worksheet
o Showing them a time on the analog clock manipulative
and having them copy the time and then figure out what
time it represents.
- Working on Elapsed Time
o When trying to figure out how much time has elapsed students need to
understand that this is the amount of time gone by in a set period (e.g. From
2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.)
o Using two clock manipulatives and the white board, demonstrate finding
elapsed time using a time line.
Start with a few that lie in between 12am and 12pm
Students might recognize that they could subtract the second
hour from the first hour (Elapsed time from 5:30-10:30 is 105= 5 hours).
Once they begin to understand this ask, Is this always going
to work, or are the time spans that would not give you the right
answer if you just subtracted the ending time from the start
time?
Begin to introduce a few time periods that span the 12 oclock
If the time period passes 12 oclock you can still use the time
line to figure out how much time has passed
The equation method would be to subtract the starting hour
from 12 and then add what the new hour is (7:30-1:30 12-7
and then add 1= 5+1 = 6 hours have elapsed)
4. Closure: (How will you wrap up the lesson and reinforce key ideas? Closure may include
some form of assessment or exit slip)
- The closure for the lesson will be to have the students convert a digital time into an
analogue time using the manipulatives provided. This will help the students by
encouraging them to think carefully about the rules of reading an analogue clock.
They have to be able to place the hour hand and the minute hand in the correct
positions based on the analogue rules.
Accommodations for individual differences: (How will the lesson be differentiated to support
diverse learners? Describe additional supports that can be used for re-teaching if needed, and a

challenging extension for students for demonstrate mastery quickly or show evidence of a lot of
prior knowledge.)
-

The lesson is differentiated based on the small group to ensure students are working
at the level they need. Some of the students have not quite grasped telling time to the
minute and so their group will focus the majority of their time on that section of the
lesson plan. The other groups will be able to move on to the elapsed time portion of
the lesson as soon as they have demonstrated their mastery of the earlier material.
The clock manipulatives will provide sensory support for the students, allowing them
to work tangibly with the concept at hand.
The worksheet is a graphic support that gives the students the opportunity to display
their times in a variety of ways, through the analog and digital clock faces. This,
coupled with the vocal repetition of times will help ensure the students can develop
their understanding through a variety of inputs.
The whiteboards provide another graphic support for those students working on
elapsed time. They allow students to view the problem as a number line.
The small group setting provides interactive supports as the students will have direct
access to the teacher, who will be able to quickly assess students needs and abilities.
Additional supports that could be used to re-teach this lesson would be to use pairs to
have students develop their own times with their partner (take turns coming up with a
time and having the other student represent it on their manipulative clock).

Behavioral and organizational strategies: (What behaviors will you model or discuss with
students? What do you want to remember about organizing the lesson and materials? Use this
section for reminders to yourself about behavioral and organizational strategies. For example, do
you want to explicitly model how to work with partners in this lesson? Or demonstrate how to
use mathematical tools?)
-

The primary behavioral strategy I want to focus on for this lesson is ensuring students
do not blurt out answers, or copy other students work. The close proximity of the
small group gives students the opportunity to follow each other, instead of finding
their own answer. Because I am working with them as a group I need to make sure the
students understand that this is to be done individually and that if they are unsure,
copying others will not help them learn the information.
o In order to do this I will model figuring out a time on the clock, being explicit
about not looking at other students and not calling out the answer.
o If a student calls out an answer, I will ask them how they are supposed to
respond to the questions and remind them to show the answer on the paper not
by blurting out.
I also need to make sure the students understand how to use the clock manipulatives,
the above demonstration will help, not only provide the behavior support, but also the
organizational skills of using the manipulatives.

One organizational note is to provide the materials as the students need them, do not
have the white boards out until the students are ready to work on Elapsed Time. This
will help avoid confusion and/or misuse of materials.