How a clock works

1. This is a clock. It has two hands. The short, fat one and the long, thin one. They do different jobs, and telling them apart is most of the work.
2. The SHORT hand says the hour. It is pointing at the 3. So it is 3 o’clock.
3. This clock says it too. That is the same time, written down: 3:00. The first number is the hour. It says 3, just like the short hand. Watch both clocks from now on. They always agree.
4. The LONG hand says the minutes. An hour is made of 60 minutes. Every hour. Always 60. The long hand is the one that counts them. Right now it points straight up at the 12. No minutes have gone by yet. That is what “o’clock” means.
5. Quick check. Two hands, two jobs. Pick the one that tells you the hour. Which hand tells you the hour? The short fat one · The long thin one. Yes. The short fat hand always says the hour.
6. One number is 5 minutes. The long hand moved on by one number, from the 12 to the 1. That is 5 minutes. Look at the other clock. It went from 3:00 to 3:05.
7. Your turn. Move it on one more number. Put your finger on the long thin hand. Slide it round to the 2. Watch the other clock while you do it. It should change to 3:10.
8. Now watch a whole hour go by. The long hand goes all the way round. Every number it passes is another 5 minutes. The counter keeps the total. Both clocks change together. Watch the minutes climb to 60.
9. 60 minutes make 1 hour. The long hand got back to the 12. The counter stopped at 60 of 60. That is one whole hour gone by. And that is the rule. It never changes. 60 minutes is 1 hour.
10. And the hour changed. While all that happened, the short hand crept from the 3 to the 4. The other clock went from 3:00 to 4:00. When the minutes reach 60 they start again at 0. The hour goes up by one. That is how the two hands work together.
11. Your turn. Make it 7 o’clock. Slide the short fat hand round to the 7. Then put the long thin hand straight up at the 12. The clock beside it should say 7:00.
12. Halfway round is half past. The long hand points straight down at the 6. That is half of the way round. Half of 60 is 30. So the counter says 30 of 60. Half an hour.
13. That is what “half past” means. “Past” means after. So “half past 4” means half an hour AFTER 4 o’clock. First it was 4 o’clock. Then half an hour went by. Now it is half past 4.
14. Now look at the short hand. It is not on the 4 any more. It has not reached the 5 either. It sits BETWEEN them, halfway. That is because half of the hour has gone.
15. So this is half past 4 — not half past 5. The short hand has left the 4. It has not got to the 5. So the hour is still 4. Remember this one. When the short hand sits between two numbers, take the SMALLER one.
16. Your turn. Make it half past 9. Half past means the long hand points straight down at the 6. Slide it there. Then move the short hand until the other clock says 9:30. Look closely. The short hand does not sit ON the 9. It sits just past it.
17. Two clocks, one time. 4:30 means 4 o’clock and 30 minutes. The number after the two dots is the minutes. It never gets past 59. At 60 it becomes a whole hour and starts again at 0. So “half past 4” and “4:30” are two ways of saying one time.
18. Last check. Look at the short hand. It is sitting between two numbers again. The short hand is between the 7 and the 8. What is the hour? 7 o’clock · 8 o’clock. Yes. It has left the 7 and not reached the 8. So the hour is 7.

Three things to keep. There are 60 minutes in an hour. Half of that is 30. Short hand for the hour. Long hand for the minutes. And when the short hand sits between two numbers, take the smaller one.