Telling Time to Five Minutes

Times land on every five minutes, so the minute hand points at one of the twelve numbers and the student has to count round in fives to turn that into minutes. It is the step where reading a clock stops being pattern recognition and starts being arithmetic.

The minute marks around the edge are there to count from. Twelve clocks to a page; drop to nine or six if they need to be larger.

Frequently asked questions

What grade is telling time to five minutes?

Second grade in most curricula, once skip counting by fives is solid - the two are taught to support each other.

How do you read the minutes?

Count round from the 12 in fives: the 3 is fifteen minutes, the 6 is thirty, the 9 is forty-five.

Can I go finer than five minutes?

Yes - set Times To The to Minute and the hand lands anywhere, which is the third grade version.

Is there an answer key?

Turn on Include Answer Pages and a key prints behind each worksheet page - digital times for the clocks to read, and clocks with the hands drawn for the ones to fill in.