The purpose of this activity is for students to make sense of a visual representation of the 24 hours in 1 day. This representation is designed to help students see the hours that make up a.m. and p.m. Students might mention that the representation looks like a number line, because it is linear. Consider pointing out ways the 2 representations are alike and ways they are different. For example, students may notice that the same 12 hours are repeated in each part of the day, but numbers do not repeat on a number line. Students have opportunities to develop logical arguments for why an event may happen during a.m. or p.m. hours and critique the arguments of others (MP3). Some students may know about using 24-hour time. If it comes up, acknowledge that this is a valid system, but the focus of this lesson is using a.m. and p.m.

This activity uses MLR8 Discussion Supports. Advances: listening, conversing.

• “You had to decide whether Elena walks her dog at 2:00 a.m. or p.m.”
• “Explain your reasoning for your answer.” (2:00 p.m. because 2 a.m. is in the middle of the night. Most people would not walk their dog in the middle of the night.)
• Point to the timeline display to show where 2:00 a.m. is on the diagram and explain that it is morning, but that we sleep during the early morning hours.
• “Since the hours repeat twice a day, we need to say ‘a.m.’ or ‘p.m.’ to be clear about the time we mean.”

The purpose of this activity is for students to practice telling and writing time from an analog clock, using “a.m.” and “p.m.” Students are not expected to draw the hands on the clock precisely, but it is important that they think about the relative position of the hour hand in terms of the hour and the minutes that have passed. When students explain whether the time is a.m. or p.m. and how they draw the hour hand on the analog clock, they attend to precision (MP6).

• Invite students to share whether each activity would be a.m. or p.m.
• Invite students to share the hour they chose and how they showed the time on the analog clock.
• Consider asking:
  • “Why did you choose this time?”
  • “How did you decide where to draw the minute hand?”
  • “How did you decide where to draw the hour hand?”