Maths Library

Telling the Time: Year 4 maths

This topic covers reading and writing times from both analogue clock faces and 12-hour digital displays. Students practise identifying hours and minutes, interpreting terms like 'half past' and 'quarter to', and matching representations.

Open in full editor

What this covers

Telling the Time is taught in Year 4 (age 8 to 9, KS2) as a main teaching focus. It sits in the Measurement strand.

Worked example

What time is shown on an analogue clock when the hour hand is just past 4 and the minute hand points to 3

  1. Identify the minute hand pointing at 3, which represents 3 × 5 = 15 minutes past the hour.
  2. Identify the hour hand situated just after 4, indicating the hour is 4.
  3. Combine to write the time as 4:15 or quarter past 4.

Answer: 4:15

Difficulty scale

The sheet generator offers five difficulty settings for this topic.

  1. Reading analogue clocks to the exact hour (o'clock).
  2. Reading clocks to half past and quarter past/to the hour.
  3. Reading clocks to multiples of 5 minutes past or to the hour.
  4. Reading analogue clocks to the nearest minute.
  5. Converting between analogue phrasing (e.g. 20 to 8) and digital displays (7:40).

Common mistakes

  • Confusing the roles of the hour hand and minute hand.
  • Reading 'quarter to 5' as 5:45 instead of 4:45 because the hour hand is near the 5.

Curriculum links

Indicative matches to National Curriculum for England. Check wording and codes against the official document.

  • Read, write, and convert time between analogue and digital 12- and 24-hour clocks.

Sample sheet and answers

Six questions at the level's usual difficulty. Open the editor to change, add or regenerate any of them.

Telling the Time

Year 4 maths

Qs
6
Marks
12
NameDateScore / 12
1.
What time does the clock show? Write it as a digital time.
121234567891011
[2]
2.
What time does the clock show? Write it as a digital time.
121234567891011
[2]
3.
What time does the clock show? Write it as a digital time.
121234567891011
[2]
4.
What time does the clock show? Write it as a digital time.
121234567891011
[2]
5.
What time does the clock show? Write it as a digital time.
121234567891011
[2]
6.
What time does the clock show? Write it as a digital time.
121234567891011
[2]

Answer key

  1. 4:01The short hand shows the hour, the long hand the minutes; The time is 4:01
  2. 1:22The short hand shows the hour, the long hand the minutes; The time is 1:22
  3. 8:52The short hand shows the hour, the long hand the minutes; The time is 8:52
  4. 12:38The short hand shows the hour, the long hand the minutes; The time is 12:38
  5. 3:01The short hand shows the hour, the long hand the minutes; The time is 3:01
  6. 11:44The short hand shows the hour, the long hand the minutes; The time is 11:44