Telling Time to the Half Hour

Area: Algebraic thinking, problem solving

Source: Problem Solving with Cutouts—Second and Third Grade by Frank Schaffer

Purpose: This activity gives students a chance to determine time by the half hour. They will learn that thirty minutes and half and hour are the same, and that two half hours make up one full hour.

Standards:

Materials:
-“School Schedule” worksheet
-glue, scissors

Objectives: TSW determine the placement of activities to the half hour. TSW solve problems with more than one variable.

Procedures:
1. The students discuss what kinds of activities they participate in at summer camp.
2. The students decide on four activities that they want to put on the schedule.
3. The students choose three names they want to put on the schedule.
4. The teacher puts the attached chart on the board, leaving out the activities that take place at certain times.
5. The teacher reads the time that a certain person does an activity and the students take turns writing the name of the activity in the correct blank on the chart on the board.
6. After almost all the spaces have been filled, the teacher stops reading the times that activities occur and students use deductive reasoning to figure out which activities go in the blanks.
7. For independent practice, students are given the “School Schedule” sheet to complete.
8. After the sheet is complete, the class reviews the correct answers and discusses how the students came to those conclusions (what clues helped them the most, why the size of the blocks mattered, etc.).

Extension: The students who finish early can create their own schedule that tells what activities they like to do when they get home from school and let another student fill it out.

Assessment: The “School Schedules” the students completed will be graded on a 100 point scale.


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