4) Using the “ Activity Cards for Clock Concepts “ with the Child

ACTIVITY CLOCK

(4) Using the " Activity Cards for Clock Concepts " with the Child

These ACTIVITY CARDS FOR CLOCK CONCEPTS can represent an advanced level of the time and clock concepts that require the child to first have sufficient experience with the daily schedules. After he or she is able to make the association between activities and the corresponding time, these ACTIVITY CARDS FOR CLOCK CONCEPTS are the next step to teaching them abstract ideas.

Distinguishing the Clock Hands and an Introduction to the Clock Hand Set a. Distinguishing the Long Hand from the Short Hand

Prior to using the ACTIVITY CARDS FOR CLOCK CONCEPTS , the parent should first introduce the child to the long and short hands of the clock.

Familiarize the child with the fact that the short hand represents hours whenever it points to a number or the subsequent interval. For instance, “the interval between the numbers 1 and 2 on the clock represents the first hour, while the interval between the numbers 2 and 3 represents the second hour, and so on.”

The long hand is also called the minute hand, and so whichever number that it points to will represent the current minute.

For instance, “if the current time is 3:15 , then the long hand will rest on the number 15 , while the short hand will reset somewhere between 3 and 4.”

b. Introduction to Clock Hand Set

Gigo has manufactured a precise CLOCK HAND SET for your use. It contains the same physical mechanism that can be found in a real clock, and thus will behave in a realistic fashion. For instance,

“by rotating the long hand manually, the short hand will move correspondingly to the appropriate position.” This realistic representation of clock mechanism can be used to demonstrate how the long and short hands behave to the child.

ACTIVITY CLOCK

c. Three-Stage Learning with Control Cards and Clock Models

The following order of the four categories of cards are recommended for this part of the lesson: 1) “Full Hours”, 2) “Half

Hours”, 3) “Quarter Hours Half Hours”, 4) “Three-Quarter Hours”. Furthermore, we recommend beginning the lessons with the clock model with Minute Intervals.

Once the child has sufficient progress in using this model, you may work your way up to the more advanced models with 5 and 15 minute intervals. To begin using the ACTIVITY CARDS FOR CLOCK CONCEPTS in conjunction with the clock model, first choose three control cards. As an example game using the “Full Hour” category, the three cards you have chosen may be:

“1:00”, “2:00”, and “3:00”.

The First Stage Lessons:

First, show the “1 o’clock” card to the child, where the top of the card will illustrate that the minute hand is at 12 and the hour and is at 1. Demonstrate to the child that when the clock indicates 1 o’clock, these are the relative positions of the short hand and the long hand on the clock, and that at the bottom of the card is “1:00”, the numerical representation of the time. Then, move the short and long hands on the clock model to their corresponding positions as shown on the ACTIVITY CARDS FOR CLOCK ONCEPT. Next, show the “2 o’clock” card to the child and teach him or her that when the clock indicates 2 o’clock, the short hand will rest on the number 2 while the long hand will rest on the number 12, as the illustration at the top of the card will portray. Again, move the minute and hour hands on the clock model to their relative positions, and repeat these steps for all the selected control cards. The first stage lessons focus on teaching the hand positions on the clock to the child both graphical and numerical manners, and practicing on the clock model immediately to further help translate the abstract concept into memory.

ACTIVITY CLOCK

The Second Stage Lessons:

Once the child shows sufficient progress in the first stage lessons, he or she can continue onto the second stage lessons. This stage focuses on practicing through repetitions to engrain the newly acquired knowledge into their mind. Start with questions such as “Which card says 3 o’clock? Can you move the short and long hands on the clock to the 3 o’clock position?” or “Can you find the 1 o’clock card and move the hands on the clock to the 1 o’clock position?” Once the child has demonstrated the necessary skills to complete these tasks, then he or she is ready to move onto the third stage lessons.

The Third Stage Lessons:

The third stage lessons are practice sessions that also serve evaluative functions. Point to one of the cards and ask the child what time does it represent, then encourage him or her to move the hands on the clock model to the right positions. Practicing with the clock model is an important part of learning for the child as it gives them experience with real operations, which will ultimately increase the learning process. If during any one of the stages the child shows signs of difficulty in performing the exercises, feel free to repeat a previous stage until the he or she is ready to move up the stage again.

d. The Flow of the Three Stages

The basic premise of the three-stage learning process is a progressive learning style that uses three selected cards in conjunction with the appropriate level of clock model. The previous example uses the cards “1:00”, “2:00”, and “3:00” from the “Full Hours“ category. The next logical step would be to use the “4:00”, “5:00”, and “6:00” cards, followed by “7:00”, “8:00”, and

“9:00” cards, etc. If the child shows considerable difficulty in learning from a certain card, then you can simply replace the cards that he or she is successful with and leave the problematic card in game for more practice. After the cards from the “Full Hours” category has been exhausted, then it is time to move to the “Quarter Hours”, “Half Hours”, and “Three-

Quarter Hours” categories. Once the child has successfully gone through all the categories, then you can mix up the cards from different categories for more practice.

ACTIVITY CLOCK

e. Using the Activity Cards for Clock Concepts to Match Games

Once the child has progressed through the three stages and practiced with six or more control cards, then he or she is ready to begin using the clock models to match up the Control Cards and the Exercise Cards. This game is divided into two levels.

The description of the game is as follows:

(1) The first level should begin immediately after the child has finished the third stage, so that his or her working memory still retains the acquired knowledge that can be applied in practice. We will be using the

“Full Hours” in this example: Select six pairs of cards that the child is already familiar with, such as the

“1:00”, “2:00”, “3:00”, “4:00”, “5:00”, and “6:00” cards from the Control Cards and the Exercise Cards. The game proceeds as follows:

(a) Separate the control cards, the graphical exercise cards, and the numerical exercise cards. The child then randomly picks a control card and attempts to identify the indicated time on the card. If he or she is successful, then place the selected card onto the tabletop. (b) Game by matching the graphics: The child then attempts to match the graphical exercise card with the corresponding card from the Control Cards.

If the child is successful, then place the matching graphical exercise card under the control card. (c) Game by matching the numerical cards: Then the child attempts to match the numerical exercise card with the corresponding card from the Control Cards.

These are the cards that contain numerical, rather than graphical, representations of the time. If the child is successful in the matching, then place the numerical card underneath the graphical exercise card. At this point the matching is complete. (d) The child then picks any card at will and then moves the hands on the clock model to the correct corresponding positions. (e) The objective of this game is to provide the child with practice in recognizing and matching abstract symbols (i.e. the numerical labels).

ACTIVITY CLOCK

(2) Once the child shows sufficient confidence and familiarity with level one of the game, then he or she is ready to move on to level two.

(a) The second level focuses on the child’s ability to recognize the graphical exercise cards. Much like the previous level, the child picks a control card at random and tries to identify the time. If he or she is successful, then place the card on to tabletop. (b) Then the child attempts to match the numerical and graphical exercise cards as in the previous level. The child should demonstrate the ability to easily recognize the correct time and therefore perform the correct matching. (c) Then go through the control cards to ensure that the child is able to identify each and every one of them. (d) The child then picks any card at will and then moves the hands on the clock model to the correct corresponding positions.

ACTIVITY CLOCK f. Practicing with the Question Cards

The ACTIVITY CARDS FOR CLOCK CONCEPTS also come with a set of question cards that are used to test the child’s level of understanding the concepts of reading time. The questions encompass the numerical representations from the “Full Hour”,

“Quarter Hour”, “Half Hour”, and “Three-Quarter Hour” categories. One difference between the question cards and the exercise cards is that the former is not color coded, and are all beige colored.

The question cards can be used with any of the clock models depending on the child’s level of understanding. During the test, the child randomly picks a question card and attempts to identify the indicated time. Then he or she tries to move the clock hands into the correct positions to reflect the corresponding time.

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This Manual is Co-Developed by :

Chaoyang University of Technology Department of Early Childhood Development and Education Ni, Young-Chih, Ed. D. Won,Wen-Yu, M .Ed Chung, Li-Chih, Graduate Student Lee, Sheau-Lan, Graduate Student Chen, Chien-Ming, Graduate Student LIFE

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