Time
Time is something that is very difficult for third graders to understand. Since their attention span is shorter than that of adults, it is important to teach any information in short installments with time for discussion and clarification. To begin, students need to know that there are 60 seconds in one minute, 60 minutes in one hour, 24 hours in one day, 365.25 day's in one year and then every 4 years, we have what is called a Leap Year, which adds one extra day to the calendar in February to make up for the ¼ day left over every year. Since a Leap Year happens only once every four years, the students often ask what happens when someone is born on the day that is left out all the other years, February 29 th. It is interesting to hear their ideas as to how that person would celebrate their birthday and on what day that would happen. Some wonder if because the birthday only comes once every four years, does this mean that one ages one year, every year, or just every four years? It is fun having the students brainstorm together and discuss their thoughts on the day that Falls every four years.
Measuring time is important for the students to understand. One lunar month is approximately 29.5 days. Within this month is a series of weeks, which are made up of seven days. In early times, the Babylonians and Hebrews said that the number seven came from the amount of days it took for the creation of the universe. This is just a speculation however, since there is no trace back to how the week came to be the seven days we know of it today. The day is broken up into two categories; one sidereal day is 23 hours and 56 minutes, whereas the solar day is 24 hours. A sidereal day is the time it takes the Earth to make one complete rotation with respect to the background stars, whereas the Solar day is how long the Earth takes to make a rotation with respect to the Sun.
There is a world standard for measuring time called the Universal Time (UT), or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Earth is divided into 24 time zones starting and ending at the Prime Meridian. If it were noon at the Prime Meridian, then anything West would be one hour earlier for every time zone and anything East would be one hour later.
The face of a clock is divided into twelve sections where each number represents five-minute intervals. In order for the students to understand concepts such as months and years, they first need to be able to tell how long a minute is as well as an hour. Keeping time is found in many forms and methods. It is important for students to be able to keep track of time in these ways. From looking at a Sundial, to seeing sand in an hourglass, from looking at a digital alarm clock to reading analog, students need to be aware of the resources around them. When thinking about this concept, it is very easy for students to be hung up on the fact that time is always moving, never stopping or delaying for any length of time. Even though, when given a time out from the classroom, they may think that time has stopped for that short period for them to wait out their punishment and then move on to a fun activity. I find it is cumbersome when many students ask what time it is during the day, or how long it is until something is going to happen. By the students learning time, they can take more responsibility for their actions.
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