Ideas The Clock in the Bedroom • Talk about times in general - What do we do in the morning? When do we have lunch? What time is bed time? • Look at the clock. Have you got any other clocks or watches that look like this? How else is time shown? • Talk about the numbers on the clock.  What is different about numbers 10, 11 and 12?  (They need two Numberjacks to make them.) • Discuss how the hands show different amounts of time. Talk about the second hand, saying that it counts seconds. You could count ‘One potato, two potato, three potato,...’ and so on to see how it approximately keeps up with the second hand. • You can use the Beeper to time in seconds and compare it with the clock. The Talking Clock • Play with moving the hands and have fun listening to the clock tell the time - this is all useful experience.  Don’t expect your child to tell the time themselves too soon but do encourage them to say the time along with the clock. • Set the clock to tell the time to the nearest hour.  Move the hour hand to get the clock to tell the times from 1  o’clock through to 12 o’ clock.  Ask your child to predict what time the clock will say before you release the hour hand.  Swap over and let your child move the hand. Then try setting it to random hours rather than in order. • Still with the clock set to tell times to the nearest hour, ask your child if they they can make the clock say specific times - ‘Can you make it say 3 o’clock?’. Don’t worry if they can’t! • When your child is ready for it (which may be very much later) set the clock to nearest quarter, and move the minute hand in a similar way.  Later still set the clock to tell the time to the nearest five minutes. • Talk about different times of the day - geting up, going to bed, meal times, times to go to nursery or school. Get the clock to say those times (or approximately those times) to familiarise your child with the idea that clocks can ‘tell’ the time of particular events. • Even though your child may very well not be able to read the clock to the nearest five minutes yet, they might still be able to use the five minute setting to try and match the time shown on a real clock. They could try matching the clock in the bedroom in Mission to Learn which is still visible when the Talking Clock is open. If they can manage this, then you could ask them what the time is and they could use the Talking Clock to tell you. The Clock The Clock on the wall in the bedroom shows local time wherever Numberjacks: Mission to Learn is used. The Clock is intended to promote interest time in and provide opportunity to talk about time in a general way. Whilst it could help children who are learning to read the time, learning to tell the time on a clock face requires plenty of experience. To provide more of that experience, clicking on the Clock opens the Talking Clock which enables children to hear the time that the clock is showing even when playing on their own. The Talking Clock The Talking Clock does not show the actual time. Instead, the hands of the clock can be moved by dragging them round and the clock will speak the time that has been set. The clock can be set to show the time to the nearest hour, nearest quarter hour or nearest five minutes, so can help with many stages of a child learning to read clock times.  Drag one of the hands of the clock to change the time that it shows. When it is set to show the time to the nearest hour, only the hour hand can be moved. When you release the hand, the clock will jump to the nearest time (five minutes, quarter hour or o’clock depending on the setting chosen) and then speak the time. Click the top circle to set times to the nearest hour. Click the middle circle to set times to the nearest quarter hour. Click the middle circle to set times to the nearest five minutes. Click the speaker button to hear the time again On the screen