Math & Literature: Time (& Related Activities!)

I'm on a holiday vacation cleaning frenzy. (Any other crazies out there?) In the process, I've made progress purging my office bookshelves, rediscovering all my kid lit/math books. It's time to revamp my Math Book List to reflect all the additions I've made in the last couple years. With the coming New Year, "TIME" seems like an appropriate place to begin. Here's the updated list for this concept. And, as always, the complete math/lit booklist can be found here.

Time  New! (12/2016)
All About Time, Jeunesse & Verdet
All in a Day, Mitsumasa Anno, et al
Bats Around the Clock, Kathi Appelt
Chimp Math, Nagda & Bickel
Clocks and More Clocks, Pat Hutchins
Cluck O'Clock, Kes Gray 
Four Season Make a Year, Anne Rockwell
Henry's Important Date, Robert Quackenbush (only linked mini-version is currently in print)
How to Tell Time (older Little Golden Book)
It's About Time, Jesse Bear, Nancy White Carlstrom
Just a Minute!, Teddy Slater (Hello Math)
Maxie, Mildred Kantrowitz
My First Book of Time, Claire Llewellyn
On the Same Day in March, Marilyn Singer
Pigs on a Blanket, Amy Axelrod
Scaredy Squirrel, Melanie Watt (Review & Activity)
Telling Time, Jules Older
Telling Time with Big Mama Cat, Dan Harper
Time To..., Bruce McMillan
The Warlord's Alarm, Virginia Walton Pilegard
What Time Is It? A Book of Math Riddles, Sheila Keenan
What Time Is It Mr. Crocodile?, Judy Sierra
When This Box Is Full, Patricia Lillie

My blog also has several other activity/book entries about time:

• Calculate elapsed time by comparing your time zone to Nepal! (Nepal's time is offset by a quarter hour, making it a great problem-solving time zone.) 
• Come with us as we calculate time using the book, Scaredy Squirrel. 
• Make a foldable on time after reading some "time" books.
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  Make journaling a part of your school experience by adding it to your daily (pocket) calendar!
• Learn about time by involving kids in daily (home) schedules. (Could be used by homeschoolers but also by kids home on weekends or breaks.)

Calculating Elapsed Time: Nepal!

I never knew. This is awesome.

If your kiddos need to practice elapsed time ~OR~ if they want an elapsed time challenge, try this...

Calculate what time it is in Nepal! From Wikipedia:

Nepal Standard Time (NPT) is the time zone for Nepal. With a time offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) of +05:45, Nepal Standard Time[1] is one of only two official time zones with a 45-minute increment from UTC. The Chatham Islands, which uses Chatham Island Standard Time also has a 45-minute increment from UTC, its time zone being UTC+12:45.

So the time difference doesn't fall on an hour, but on a portion of an hour (+ a given number of hours AND 45 minutes)



Awesome. Try it. :)

Elapsed Time with Scaredy Squirrel

Have you read about poor Scaredy Squirrel? He never leaves his nut tree. He's too scared of the unknown. So his daily schedule consists of:

"Wake up. Eat a nut. Look at view. Eat a nut. Look at view. Eat a nut. Look at view. Go to sleep."

Not a whole lot of excitement for that furry critter.

Then one day, in the most hilarious way, Scaredy Squirrel is forced into the unknown. He makes some changes in his life:

"Wake up. Eat a nut. Look at view. Jump into the unknown. Play dead. Return home. Eat a nut. Look at view. Eat a nut. Look at view. Go to sleep."

My 6 & 9yo kids have read this book with me over and over and over. We all LOVE IT. It's one of those books that tickles the adult funny bone just as much (or more) than it tickles the kids'.

I've always thought this book would make a great tool for considering elapsed time. Today I asked my 9yo to figure out how much time Scaredy Squirrel used for each daily activity on the old and new schedule. He then did a little comparison of how time was spent in each chart. We noticed that some of the time Scaredy Squirrel spent observing the world in schedule #1 was now spent experiencing the world in schedule #2.

I wouldn't hesitate to use this with any age, but it's especially valuable for 3rd & 4th graders who are exploring the Common Core State Standards involving time:

3.MD.1. Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals in minutes, e.g., by representing the problem on a number line diagram.
4.MD.2. Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Represent measurement quantities using diagrams such as number line diagrams that feature a measurement scale.

Calculating elapsed time isn't scary. Try it!

Disclosure: If you purchase books through my Amazon links, all commissions go toward foster care through Grace and Hope at no additional cost to you. I do not keep any money myself; I am hoping to be able to sponsor an additional child in foster care through commissions on this site. Thank you!

Fun with Time...Books & Foldable

Have a little time on your hands? Maybe it's time to learn about TIME! Here's some fun that we've been having:

Books on Time...Here's What We've Been Reading:

Just a Minute!
Fred is confused about what a "minute" is because his family members keep saying "just a minute" but then proceed to take a VERY. LONG. TIME. Cute book.

Clocks and More Clocks
Mr. Higgins thinks that the clocks in his house don't keep correct time. He'll check a clock on one floor in his house, find it's 3:00, only to go upstairs and find that the clock there says 3:01. Since he can never catch clocks on different floors showing the same exact time, he's convinced there is something wrong. My 9yo totally caught the humor and kept shaking his head throughout the reading.

Telling Time
Great introduction to the concept of time. More advanced than your usual concept book, addressing everything from seconds to hours, analog and digital clocks, and years to millennia. 

Hands-on with Time

Judy Clock
Each student took a Judy Clock and moved the hour and minute hand as we talked about them. I then called out various times and had students check to see that they had the same time as their neighbor.

Time Foldable
My students made their own foldable books about time. We made foldable books with four sections. (Sorta like this "flip flap with 4 flaps.") Each child picked four times during the day. On the top of a flap, he wrote the activity that takes place during a certain time and drew a picture. On the inside of that flap, we stamped a blank clock. Each student showed the time with a Judy Clock and then copied the Judy Clock time onto the blank clock. For example, a child wrote "get up" and illustrated the front of the flap with a picture of getting out of bed. He then showed his wake up time on a Judy Clock (6:45) and copied that information onto the stamp inside the flap. I told my students they could then quiz other people to see if they could figure out when each event took place...and then have their readers open the flap to check.


Disclaimer: If you order from Amazon, all commissions go toward foster care through Grace and Hope at no additional cost to you. THANK YOU!

Journaling with a Calendar Pocket Chart !!

When I first saw this idea posted on The Math Learning Center blog (see photo #6), I couldn't believe I'd never thought of it before. It's so simple yet so awesome...

I've always had kids journal. Always used a calendar grid pocket chart (5"x5" pockets). But never put them together. So now I'm having kids record things that happen during the day to put on our wall calendar pocket chart. We try to either write at the end of the day or write in the morning about the previous day.

At the end of the month, I'm collecting the cards, holes punched on one corner, to make into a "book of the month," gathered on a ring. It will be tremendously fun for us to look back and see what we did each month.

This does mean that my calendar patterns have to go in front of our journal squares. Either that, or I need to hang a separate calendar. This month we're using turkey handprints for our calendar pattern and they fit nicely in front of the journal squares.

Kids, Homeschool, & Schedules

Since I began homeschooling NINE (gasp!) years ago, I've tried any number of different schedules. For many years we didn't need a schedule. But I've found that sometimes we need one for various reasons... Young siblings on the sidelines. A particular personality who craves order. (Sometimes that's ME!)

The last time I used a schedule, I wrote it and everyone else followed. This time I'm doing it a little different...and loving the results!  Here's what I did...

Gather supplies:

• pocket chart
• old business cards or small pieces of cardstock in 3 colors
• markers

As part of school I had my student make labels indicating every half-hour. On orange cards I listed the parts of the school day that are landmarks: breakfast, lunch, and (sometimes) nap. On blue cards he wrote down each of the things he does independently during the day. On green cards he posted things that he needs my help with during the day. Then, in the bottom right of each card we listed how much time (in 15 minute increments) each job takes.

He then placed all the time cards in the pocket chart, followed by the orange cards. It was then his job to make the schedule for our day, using the blue and green cards. I really didn't care what order he put them in (which gave him a lot of control!) as long as all the jobs made it on the chart. I did suggest that he put the "school" type cards before lunch as much as possible. I also explained that during the blue card (independent work) time that I would be doing household jobs.

As he finished each job, he turned the card over so I knew it was complete. This worked great! He does well on a schedule, but especially if it's a schedule that he has some control over. The fact that he has to think through what he must do each day and analyze just how much time it will take to get it done is an incredible life skill. He'll do this each morning so that the day's schedule is fresh in his mind.

See also: Kid Scheduled Workboxes!