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Year 1 · Time

O'clock and half past

A clock has two hands. The short hand points to the hour, the long hand shows the minutes.

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How to do it

  1. Find the short hand: the number it has passed is the hour.
  2. Find the long hand: straight up is o'clock, straight down is half past.
  3. Each number the long hand passes is 5 minutes.

Worked example

What time is it?
The long hand goes half way round; the short hand is half way from 4 to 5
half past 4 (4:30)

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The short hand moves slowly between numbers: it is the number it has already passed.

Practise O'clock and half past properly

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