Today I get to share an amazing book with you which is being released today!! It is from fellow Kid Blogger Network bloggers, Amanda Boyarshinov and Kim Vij. They are the creators of The Educators' Spin on It. The book is 100 Fun & Easy Learning Games for Kids.
This book has 100 lessons to teach reading, writing, math, science and more to kids using objects around your house and often in your recycling bin. Many of the lessons are based on beginning reading and spelling, which Hazel has gotten past. However she was very excited to try several lessons from the book. We decided to share with you Rock Clock Mystery. Page Street Publishing Company gave me permission to reprint this activity here. Hazel's class has been working on telling time so it was the perfect lesson for us to try.
Rock Clock Mystery
Telling analog time takes a lot of practice for young learners. This activity gets children building and interacting with the placement of numbers on a clock as well as moving the hands (sticks) around to set the time. Try your hand at building this rock clock and creating short time stories to solve.
Hint: You can paint the numbers on the back of the rocks from Pattern Snake in a Sack (page 107)!
Focus Skill: solving time story problemsMaterials
12 rocks
Paint
2 sticks
Directions to Make
1. Paint the rocks.
2. Paint a number 1 to 12 on each rock. Allow to dry overnight. (The rocks from Rock Number Hunt on page 100 can also be used for this game.)
Directions to Play
1. Use the rocks to build a clock in the shape of a circle on a flat surface.2. Set the sticks in the middle as the hour and minute hands.
3. One child tells a story with a time problem.
SampleSam went to the park at 8:00.He stayed for 1 hour and then went home.What time did he go home?
4. The player to the right uses the hands of the rock clock to show the answer.
5. If correct, then he gets to make up a time story. If incorrect, he must change the hands on the clock to show the correct time before telling the next story.
Game Variations
- Set the hour and minute hands on the clock. Act out something you would typically do at that time of day.
- Have one player call out a time and another player shows that time on the rock clock.
- Mix the rocks and race to rebuild the rock clock.
We painted twelve rocks and after the paint dried I wrote the numbers on them with a Sharpie pen because I am not sure where my paint markers are right now. I had decided it would be neater to write the numbers than try to paint them onto the rocks. Then we went outside and found a stick to break into two pieces to use for the clock hands. Hazel suggested we use Popsicle sticks instead, but I liked the natural look. Then it was time to set it up and make up some problems. Hazel LOVES playing with it.
It was fun to watch her think and count her time on the clock. I started by giving her a problem starting at 11:10 and told her she spent two and a half hours at the zoo and asked her what time it was when she left. She was able to figure it out for the most part. Then she made up a problem for me, but kept moving the clock with her thoughts.
I gave her another problem of eating dinner at 5:30 for 45 minutes and then going to bed. She was able to figure out bedtime was 6:15.
She counted out by tens to get there. She kept wanting to play with it, but it was time for me to make some dinner. She however kept playing. There is now a paper near the rock clock with all sorts of times and notes on it. For this lesson I really love how the idea can be extended out to harder concepts like figuring times for more difficult amounts of time as well as the child moving the hands of the clock and being able to count it out. Many of the activities give extensions as well as are easy to see other things to do with them.
This is a great book with many creative ideas to make learning a bit more fun and using items you already have. It even I highly recommend it for any parent, homeschooler or teacher of young kids. I hope you will check it out.
