T is for Telling Time: Bats Around the Clock

We are having loads of fun with our bat unit math extensions. This week we read a story titled, Bats Around the Clock by Kathi Appelt.

We are reviewing telling time to the hour and half hour with Alyssa. She learned these at a very young age, but I noticed that she started getting a little confused. We have also been working on telling time to the minute. I found the perfect activity to compliment our bat unit. The activity can be found at Mrs. T's First Grade Class Blog. She provides the bat and clock pattern printables for children to create a bat clock.

Materials You'll Need
Black Construction Paper (One Piece)
White Card Stock (One Piece)
White Crayon
Child's Size Scissors
Google Eyes
Brad ... I wish I had a bat brad that would be cool!
One Push Pin
Tape
Bat and Clock Patterns
Laminate or Contact Paper

I printed the bat pattern as a template on white card stock. She cut out the bat template. Alyssa used a white crayon to trace the outside of the pattern onto black construction paper. I love her reaction after she traced the bat and lifted up the template.

Then, my daughter cut out the black bat and added google eyes. I trimmed off the white crayon. Oops ... I just realized we forgot the bat's nose and mouth. We'll add those facial features later.

Next, we laminated the clock pattern and she cut it out. I used the push pin to poke a hole through the clock pattern and bat. We used one brad to attach the clock to the center of the bat. She placed tape over the brad to help keep it in place. Alyssa folded the wings to the center of the clock. The wings can open to reveal the clock and close to hide it from view.

As I read the story aloud, my daughter drew the hands for each time on the clock using blue and red thin Expo markers. The blue marker represented the minute hand and the red indicated the hour hand. We discussed the length of each hand. I reminded her about a little trick I taught her explaining the difference between the two hands. She counted the number of letters in each word. The word "hour" is spelled using only four letters and the word "minute" uses six letters. We compared the lengths of the words. I asked her which word was shorter. She said, "The hour hand." I then asked her which word was longer and her response was "The minute hand." I know it may be hard to believe but this little trick helps her remember which hand is the hour and which is the minute hand.

Bat Clock (Up Close Photo)

I also showed her how to write the time digitally on the white board and with our teaching clock.

I will link this post up at Blogging Through the Alphabet, Montessori Monday, No Time For Flash Cards - Link and Learn, Math Monday Blog Hop, Share It Saturday, Homeschool on the Cheap, Show and Share Saturday, and Learn and Link. Please click on the buttons below for more information about the following Link-Ups. Click on the links above to go directly to the Link-Ups for other ideas or to participate.

Thank you for visiting!

God bless, 
Tracey