Digital clocks show us the time. To tell time, we read the numbers or “digits.”

The first 2 digits tell the hour. The second 2 digits tell the minutes It is twelve, thirty. 12:30

The clock shows that 30 minutes have passed since it was 12 o’clock. 12:30

Since there are only 60 minutes in an hour, it must be half way to the next hour. 12:30

= 60. What time will it be in 30 more minutes? Let’s look at another kind of clock to help us figure that out. 12:30

Can you use this clock to help?

Though there are 24 hours in a day, there are only 12 numbers on a clock. Each hour comes up twice a day.

Analog clocks have two hands to tell time. It takes 60 minutes for the big hand to go all the way around the clock face. It takes 12 hours for the little hand to go all the way around the clock face.

The little hand tells the hour. 7:__ The hour is seven. We write it like this.

The big hand tells the minute. 7:00 A new hour begins every time the minute hand is at the 12.

Since the hour has just begun, we write the minutes like this. 7:00

The numbers are in 5 minute intervals

There are also little increments that show the minutes

Some clocks use Roman Numerals

This is a picture of the famous Big Ben in London This is one of the world’s largest clocks This is also an analog clock. It uses Roman Numerals.

Digital Clocks The numbers are easier and faster to read. These clocks are very popular today.

There are sixty seconds in a minute. There are sixty minutes in a hour. But did you know that there are 3,600 seconds in a hour and 525,600 minutes in a year?

The hours are shown by the two numbers before the colon. The minutes are shown by the two numbers after the colon. Digital clocks show the time exactly as it appears.