Easily Teach Elapsed Time: Digital Resource

Digital clocks are everywhere: watches, cable boxes, phones. What happened to the good ol' analog? 

It's not that I don't have digital clocks all over my apartment too. It's just that this seemingly tiny shift has had a big impact on students' ability to grasp the concept of time... you know, something used worldwide...no big deal. 😉 

Not only is just figuring out what time it is more challenging for some of my students but understanding the concept of passing time confuses them. 

Visual learners benefit from seeing an analog clock when solving elapsed time word problems. 

It's those same visual learners who LOVE the "Mountain, Hills, and Rocks" strategy. It's me. I'm one of those "I've got to see it for myself" learners. Who's with me?! 

This strategy is easy to follow, uses strategies students are comfortable with, and best of all IT WORKS!

Here's how it works: 

Big MOUNTAINS represent 1 hour of time passing. 

HILLS can be either 5 or ten minutes. 

Tiny ROCKS show the passing of one minute. 

Head to the end of this post to grab your interactive elapsed time activity. It's perfect for virtual learning!

Representing the passage of time with these easy to draw and visualize symbols made a world of difference for my students. 

There are 3 steps to using this method: 

Step 1: 

Draw a Number Line

Number lines: Know 'um. Use 'um. Love 'um. 

Place the start and end times on your number line to get started!

Step 2: Plot Mountains/Hills/Rocks & Count Up

"Counting Up" is often an addition strategy many students are familiar with by the time they tackle elapsed time. Knowing they can count up is a huge stress buster for them. I've seen so many students give a sigh of relief when they realize they can really do this! Of course, they can!

Step 3: Add the Totals

Check out this image below for an example! This slide is available in my Elapsed Time Activity on TPT. 

That's it! Elapsed time can be a breeze with my favorite technique. I know your students will love it too!

For your copy of the interactive Google Slides Elapsed Time activity featured in this post, CLICK HERE!

UPDATE: 3/4/2021-- MORE Elapsed Time: Version 2 has been added to my TPT shop by popular demand. 

Check it out here!