Maths topic
Time
What children learn in time, from their first year of school to the end of primary, and the lessons to watch together.
What's taught, year by year
The steps in time, in the order children usually meet them. Years are named as in Australia; the ages are a guide.
Before school ages 3–5
- Sequence daily routines: first, next, then. Put pictures of familiar events in order and talk about what happens first, next and last.
Foundation ages 5–6
- Morning, afternoon, evening and night. Match activities to times of day and use before and after.
- Days of the week in order. Say and order the days of the week and talk about yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Year 1 ages 6–7
- Months of the year and seasons. Name and order the months and link them to seasons and events.
- Compare durations: which takes longer?. Decide which of two activities takes longer and use quicker and slower.
- Tell the time to the hour. Read o'clock times on an analogue clock using the hour hand and minute hand.
- Tell the time to the half hour. Read half past times on an analogue clock.
- Draw clock hands for o'clock and half past. Draw the hour and minute hands to show a given time.
- Read hour and half-hour times on a digital clock. Match digital times such as 3:00 and 3:30 to analogue clocks.
Year 2 ages 7–8
- Quarter past and quarter to. Read and show quarter past and quarter to on an analogue clock.
- Tell the time to five minutes. Count in fives around the clock to read times such as 25 past or 10 to.
- Minutes in an hour, hours in a day. Know there are 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day.
- Morning or afternoon: a.m. and p.m.. Use a.m. and p.m. to show whether a time is before or after midday.
- Use a calendar to find dates and count days. Read dates on a calendar and count the days between two events.
Year 3 ages 8–9
- Tell the time to the nearest minute. Read analogue and digital clocks to the exact minute.
- Seconds: estimate and compare short durations. Use seconds, minutes and hours to estimate and compare how long things take.
- How long did it take? Elapsed time. Count on in hours and minutes, using a time line, from a start time to an end time.
- Find a start or end time from a duration. Count forward or back from a known time to find when something started or finished.
- Days in each month and leap years. Know how many days each month has and what makes a leap year.
- Roman numerals on clock faces. Read clocks that use Roman numerals I to XII.
Year 4 ages 9–10
- Read and write 24-hour time. Read times such as 14:35 and know they are after midday.
- Convert between 12-hour and 24-hour time. Change times like 7:15 p.m. to 19:15 and back.
- Convert units of time. Change between seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years.
- Time problems that cross the hour. Solve duration problems that bridge an hour or midday.
Year 5 ages 10–11
- Read and use timetables. Read a bus or school timetable to find times and journey lengths.
Year 6 ages 11–12
- Plan a trip with timetables and itineraries. Use several timetables to plan a journey and find total travel time.
- Time zones around the world. Work out the time in another city by adding or subtracting hours.