Time

Counting/ Talk

• Use an analogue then digital clock to support counting on in steps of one hour from 8 o’clock in the morning to 8 o’clock in the evening.
• Make a visual timetable to keep track of regular events in the school day – take photos with the children. Once familiar with the timetable, take off all the pictures, muddle them up, and ask children to help you sort them back into order! First, we have lunch, then we wash our hands. Oh, isn’t that right? Why not? Is it right that we go home at the beginning of the day?
• Talk about day of the week at register time: What day comes after today? What day was it yesterday? What day comes after/before Tuesday? How many sleeps is it until the weekend/our outing?

Chants/Rhymes/Songs

Sing a song to help children to learn days of the week in order, e.g.

Days of the week singalong or Days of the week song.

Begin to explore o’clock times by singing the traditional rhyme ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’. Sing along with this version featuring lots of different animals, that has a surprise ending: Hickory Dickory…Crash!

Story

Explore the order of events during the day by reading Frog and Toad Together: A List by Arnold Lobel. There is an on-screen version of this available too.

Read a story book about months, e.g. Month by Month, A Year Goes Round by Carol Diggory Shields or Maisy’s Seasons by Lucy Cousins.

Exploring and Playing

Catalogues; Sticky notes; scissors; old watches (preferably both digital and analogue examples); thin card; felt-tipped pens; tape; geared analogue clock.

Active Learning

What’s the Time, Mr Wolf? by Debi Gliori (or same title by Annie Kubler); geared analogue clock; a long strip of paper; 13 cards; clock stamp; a story about days of the week, e.g. Oliver’s Vegetables by Vivian French; washing line and 7 pegs; days of the week cards; puppet; A Busy Year by Leo Lionni; month cards; balloon-shaped cards.

Creating and Thinking Critically

Geared analogue clock; digital clock; long strip of paper for the timeline; smaller pieces of paper for children’s pictures; 12 cards with times to the hour written as 8 o’clock (see resources), small clocks; bread; eggs; water; 4 different egg/sand timers (e.g. 3, 4, 5 and 6 minutes); saucepan; access to a hob and toaster; plates and cutlery; 4 egg cups (optional).