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Original poster

Can your Y5 tell the time?

38 replies

EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 15/05/2017 19:13

DD was doing time problems at school last week and keeps complaining that some of the children can't tell the time and it's holding up the lessons. Was quite surprised by the fact that children can get to 9 and 10 and not be secure in reading the time.

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phoenix1973 · 15/05/2017 19:16

Yes. Since she was 8. She's 10 now, year 5, one of the eldest.

Original poster
EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 15/05/2017 19:22

Oh good, DD isn't the only one then! TBH I'm a bit surprised the school haven't covered it before, or the parents for that matter. I went to a really shit school in a deprived area and can remember having lessons on time st 7.

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sparepantsandtoothbrush · 15/05/2017 19:40

Telling the time was my DD's 'party trick' when she was 4 1/2. However, I know some children who are really good at maths but just don't understand time. I think it's to do with the fact that an hour/minute/second is 60 instead of 100 iykwim but could be wrong

Wh0Kn0wsWhereTheTimeGoes · 15/05/2017 19:45

Mine struggled, is still not secure on an analogue clock in y6, not for want of trying on our part or hers. She's also dyslexic. DS had it cracked before he started school.

RainbowChasing · 15/05/2017 19:53

Time is really hard for some children to understand. Some children get it really easily and others take years to master it. Most aspects of maths relate to working around 100 where as time is all working around 60. It baffles many. It isn't unusual for children to struggle with time fairly late into their primary education.

missyB1 · 15/05/2017 19:58

My ds is Year 3 they have just covered telling the time in maths. Lots of his homework the last couple of weeks was on time. He's picked it up very quickly.

Laura0806 · 15/05/2017 21:12

Just tell her that she's really lucky she finds it easy. I would hope as a parent you teach her to be considerate of others who may have difficulties such as dyslexia which makes it much harder to learn to tell the time rather than being 'surprised' that some chidlren can't tell the time in year 5!

GraceGrape · 15/05/2017 21:19

I teach Year 5. Every year, there are probably up to half the class who cannot tell the time accurately on an analogue clock. Last year, I was supposed to be teaching time problems, but had to spend time with many of them just re-teaching telling the time itself. The trouble is, time is a narrow part of a very packed maths curriculum and is only allocated around a week per year. If children don't pick it up in that time, and parents aren't practising it at home, they don't become secure at it.

Original poster
EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 15/05/2017 21:25

Upto half is surprising. I think you are right about it not being allocated much time in the curriculum. They should be learning the time problems sy the moment. When it became apparent that some of them didn't know how to tell the time, they've put those children in a separate area with a TA. The TA is a very experienced teacher who has gone part time due to health reasons. I'm sure they'll pick it up quickly with her Smile

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Mothervulva · 15/05/2017 21:31

I used to teach Year 5 a few years ago in an economically deprived area and over half the class couldn't tell the time well and a quarter not at all. It was very difficult to deal with as by that point you're not teaching them to tell the time, you're using time within word problems etc. Most of them hadn't been shown at home.

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EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 15/05/2017 21:35

That must have been tough Mother.

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Mothervulva · 15/05/2017 21:44

It was to be honest. I used to spend my lunchtimes trying to get them up to speed! It's such an important skill.

zad716 · 16/05/2017 06:53

My ds is Year 3 they have just covered telling the time in maths. Lots of his homework the last couple of weeks was on time. He's picked it up very quickly.

Covered it for the first time? Learning to tell the time (at least at a basic level) is now part of the Yr2 curriculum, though not sure if it was before.

Millybingbong · 16/05/2017 07:04

My 4 year old could.
My nearly 4 year old does not understand the concept of days of the week.

They are both so different with stuff like this.

TeenAndTween · 16/05/2017 08:12

My y7 can't tell the time properly, despite a lot of effort from home on this. Sad
It seems to be one of a random collection of stuff she has trouble with that we haven't got to the bottom of yet.

missyB1 · 16/05/2017 08:33

No not for first time zad I meant specifically in maths as in mental addition sums involving time.

Broccolirevolution · 16/05/2017 09:31

My year 3 can. It just clicked during the Easter holidays, but I've been plugging away for a while and his teachers have been teaching it for years. I guess they get it when they get it, as long as they have analogue clocks around the house it will come eventually.

newfor2017 · 16/05/2017 10:50

Yep, DS can in Y4 and is able to solve problems in Maths relating to it. DD is learning in Y1 - just quarter past, quarter to and half past atm.

drspouse · 16/05/2017 11:29

My YR DS is doing this right now in school... I doubt he'll get it properly any time soon but we want him to be able to tell which hour it is at the moment.

Minstrelsareyum · 16/05/2017 11:32

Not until late year 7 for DS who struggles with maths and also needed to understand train and bus timetables for secondary. Often DS would say 'forty to three' for 2.40 so was getting terminology wrong; he knew what he wanted to say. About mid year 5 for DD (now in year 6) who is much stronger in maths. I could tell the time by the beginning of primary (in the 1970s) and my maths was very weak but it was just something I picked up.

MummyBear1536 · 16/05/2017 11:44

I teach Year 1/2. Year 1 should be able to tell the time to the hour and half hour. Year 2 should be able to tell the time to the quarter hour and five minutes. I say should because time is a tricky concept and all children learn at their own paces. I do find that children who wear analogue watches seem to learn quicker but not always the case.

BlueChampagne · 16/05/2017 13:22

Yes, but as to actually looking at his watch and using that information ... that's yet to come.

LuchiMangsho · 16/05/2017 13:27

My 5 year old can. I couldn't till I was 9. I have a PhD now! So clearly didn't hold me back academically. I just found the 'concept' quite hard to grasp even though I was flying through school academically in other ways. Once you 'get it' though it sticks. Unlike calculus which I used to be excellent at but I couldn't tell you what it was now...

SuperRainbows · 16/05/2017 13:35

Some children find telling the time very hard.
My dd9 has just mastered it. My two older dds were a similar age. Eldest is at medical school so it's not connected to intelligence.
It clicks when child is ready. The kids that aren't secure with time may be fully secure with concepts that others may not be. That's the way it goes and teachers are used to building this in to lessons.

CadnoDrwg · 16/05/2017 13:56

Just tell her that she's really lucky she finds it easy. I would hope as a parent you teach her to be considerate of others who may have difficulties such as dyslexia which makes it much harder to learn to tell the time rather than being 'surprised' that some children can't tell the time in year 5!

^^ This...tenfold!!