Time Monsters teaches children to tell time without a single word of written text. To use the TimeMonsters.com website a child who wants to learn how to read time doesn't even need to know how to read. Everything to learn how to tell time is presented through animated lessons. Teaching a child to tell time is even easier...there is nothing more interesting than watching a child learn to tell time by watching an animation about time and reading time.
Learning to read time is easy with Time Monsters. The Time Monster site is packed with interactive clocks, more than 72 animations, eighteen quizzes, and fun, in-depth explanations on learning to tell time. Not to mention all the monsters...many many monsters who disturb various parts (the 'none-important' portions of the lessons that is) of the lesson. Learning how to tell time with Time Monsters is fun and easy.
How Time Monsters helps a child to learn to read time.
At the top of the main page are three quick access pull down menus. From these menus teachers can quickly jump to the lessons and quizzes without having to access them through the icon menu at the bottom of the page. The same selections presented in these menus are available in icon form at the bottom of the main page but unlike the menu selections the icons at the bottom of the page are set up visually for the young non-reader. The icons at the bottom of the page are laid out in a linear form so the person learning to tell time can work from left to right. There is a blue arrow that suggests which lesson the child should select next. But learning to tell time with the Time Monsters site is flexible enough and the child learning to read the clock can do so in any order desired.
The Time Monsters site writes cookies and tracks which lessons the child has completed for next visit. The program leaves the lessons icons darker. Cookies is how when a new visitor wishing to learn how to tell time comes to the site for the site time Professor Tempo explains how the site works and when the child comes back he just says "Welcome Back!"
Time Monsters.com layout
Time Monsters.com main page can be divided into four sections
1) The interactive clock on the upper right hand side
2) Professor Tempo on the upper left portion of the screen
3) Visual icon menu of all lessons, quizzes, contact and cookie reset buttons.
4) The menu at the top of the yellow screen. These menus are not necessary for the child to use the Time Monster site. The three menus sole purpose is to facilitate the teachers access for the child to any particular lesson, quiz, contact us or reset cookies option.
To help a child learn to tell time it needs to be fun. The interactive clock at the top right corner of the program can be 'played with' at any time. Children can play with the interactive clock anytime they like. They only have to move the hands and click the speaker icon below the clock to hear the spoken time. Professor Tempo will tell them what time they have set the clock to. The interactive clock on the Time Monsters main page can be reset to the computers time by clicking anywhere on the clock face itself. The clock will then be set to that computer's time. Every time the child wanting to read time has a question about the current time, he/she only needs to press the speaker to hear the current time read out to them.
Professor Tempo is the completely animated character who teaches visitors how to read time. He makes telling time amusing. Professor Tempo gives all lessons, quizzes and multiple choices on the site he is the time telling guru. Professor Tempo teaches reading time in an interesting and entertaining way. Learn to tell time with Professor Tempo is and it will be fun.
Because Professor Tempo gives all the classes on reading time and time telling quizzes verbally, the child does not need to know how to read a single word to learn how to read time with the TimeMonsters.com website.
At the bottom of the main page is a row of icons containing all the time learning classes quizzes and contact information needed to learn how to tell time on the Time Monsters website. Everything needed for the child to learn how to tell time is found at the bottom of the main page.
When the users cursor goes below the dividing line the cursor becomes a magnifying glass. By momentarily placing a magnifying glass over any of the icons Professor Tempo tells a child what that icon will do if it is clicked. When the magnifying glass is left over the icon and Professor Tempo tells you what is behind it that icon if you click it and the clock blinks to show the positions talked about.
A blinking blue arrow suggests which lesson the child should follow next as he learns how to tell time. If he or she finishes each of the sections the blue arrow will move to the next appropriate lesson. Most of the lessons can be done in any order however.
Time Monsters website is divided into 17 parts. There are 15 animated lessons that all introduce various aspects of telling time. The 15 lessons are as follows:
The numbers
The numbers on the clock section explains the position of the numbers on the watch. There is a challenge at the end of this short lesson that requires a child to put the clock's numbers in the correct place on the clock face
To and Past
The To and Past section explains which side is to and which side of the clock is past and why they are called to and past.
The hands on the clock lesson explains what the three hands on the clock are and how the hands on the clock relate to each other. That the second hand is the fastest... the minute hand takes 60 minutes to get around in an hour and that the hour hand is the slowest etc.
The following 12 animated lessons explain the five-minute increments most often used in telling time. NB. Every time one of the lessons is completed that position on the clock of the main page is filled with colored pie that relates to the colour of the icon in the icon menu. When the clock is filled with colors the user has completed every section and should know how to tell time. These 12 main lessons are follows:
o'clock
half past
quarter past
quarter to
five past
five to
10 past
10 to
20 past
20 to
25 past
25 to
As a child finishes each section there is a blue arrow pointing to the various icons at the bottom indicates the one that the Time Monsters site suggests the child goes to next.
How the lessons on the Time Monsters website are laid out to make learning to tell time easy.
At the end of each main lesson is a multiple-choice quiz which tests the users understanding of time and reading a clock with confidence. The multiple choice quizzes are very much like time worksheets...but they are fun as monsters will occasionally disturb the your time learning student also.
Two big quizzes
there are two 30 question quizzes at the end. Both quiz our interactive and reinforce the time learning concepts. They are as follows:
One hand quiz
The one hand quiz asked the child to change just a minute hand on the watch. The hour hand is placed in the correct position in this quiz. The user has to get a questions correct to finish the quiz. When the eight questions are achieved the second quiz, but to hand quiz, automatically loads.
Two hand quiz
The two hand quiz has the same configuration and rules as the one hand quiz but the question order differs. In the two hand quiz however, both hands on the clock must be set correctly.
The Time Monsters
Throughout the site and at any time the lessons are interrupted by animated monsters of all shapes and sizes. They make learning to tell time an entertaining and fun experience. They ease the learning process. There are 10 different monsters.
Cookies
The cookies programmed into the Time Monsters website only keep track of the child's progress. The Time Monsters site keeps track of all progress. The icons for all completed sections on the site are grayed out indicating a finished section. (They can still be accessed and reviewed however.)
When the child comes back in another time they know where they left off. As the child learns how to read the clock and finishes the lessons, the part of the clock that was just studied is filled with color.
The pies that fill the clock are also saved by cookies. Basically, the child can leave the site, turn off the computer and come back to the site at any time in the future and his/her position will be the same as it was when (s)he left.
The Time Monsters website knows when a child is visiting the site for the first time an ulterior visits.
If the child has never visited the site before Professor Tempo introduces himself and explains how to use the Time Monsters site to read time properly. If the child has already visited the website the introductory animation is skipped. Instead of the introductory animation Professor Tempo just welcomes the child back.
Teaching to tell time can be a trying and tricky business to say the least. As with most learning techniques a varied and well-balanced mix of resources is a must. To learn to tell time should be made as enjoyable as possible for the child. And because teaching a child to tell time is not an easy thing...neither is learning to Tell time. The best way to teach a child to read the clock is with a variety of projects and fun challenges. Reiterating time learning concepts in various formats is the best way to help a child not to 'shut down' when learning to tell or read time.
Learning to tell time and understanding time are two different things.
Understanding time is a very abstract concept for everyone...especially children. Learning to read time is purely mathematical. To understand how to read a clock you need to understand not only about fractions, whole numbers, and their position on the clock face but you also need to have an idea of the value of time itself. Learning about time completely is just a matter of time!
Ways to help a child learn to tell time.
Because children learn differently there are many different ways to teach a child how to tell time.
A well-balanced mix of fact and fun is the best way the help a child will learn to tell time. By understanding the Time Monster web site and incorporating it into the time learning schedule the child will not only be informed but entertained. Interspersing the lessons and quizzes found on the Time Monsters site, which entertain the curious child into the learning process of reading time, with projects that reinforce those lessons and quizzes is the perfect way to teach a child to understand time and read a clock with ease and confidence. Don't forget that teaching to read time under different formats is what will best help a child understand about telling time. It will not only alleviate the burden and fear learning time in one format.
Things to consider when teaching a child to read time.
- Teach time by counting in fives
The Time Monsters site takes learning time at a basic level and considers five minutes to be the base value. The Time Monsters website teaches time as most people read time...that is to say in 'fives'.
- Tell stories that involve reading time and using a clock or watch
- Make a clock
There are many websites on the internet where you can find out about making a clock face with a paper plate etc.
- Play time telling-games to help the child understanding time and reading time.
- Teach children to understand time as it happens.
- Introduce all the elements of a clock separately
- Giving a child a watch or clock will help make the time learning about telling time a rewarding one also.
Possible scenario/schedule for teaching to Tell Time
If you consider the 12 main sections from the Time Monsters site you will find that they are broken down into the '12 main position' of the clock. Except for the O'clock position on the clock face all other positions relate to one of the 11 5 minute increment positions. As mentioned previously reading time in five minute increments is the way that most people read and tell time. So by interspersing the 12 following sections with other 'reading time' projects the child will get not only a varied amount of time related concepts but will have fun.
o'clock
half past
quarter past
quarter to
five past
five to
10 past
10 to
20 past
20 to
25 past
25 to
And never forget when teaching about time
How to 'tell time' is a complex concept on many levels. The time learning process should be broken down into easy to manage lessons. Make sure that your plan is set out before starting to teach a child about reading time. By following the lesson structure on the Time Monsters website and creating other activities around the Time Monsters website structure assures not only that your children will learn how to tell time quickly...but they will learn how to tell time while having fun.
What the Time Monster site does not do...
1. The Time Monster site does not mention or discuss digital time. To learn to tell time is complicated enough without bringing the complication of digital time into the mix.
2. The site also doesn't expect the student to know how to read. It is the only site on the internet which has not a single written word (for the student...the teachers quick access menu is not for the students to need or know how to read. As most children who want to learn to read time don't know how to read text...The Time Monster site leaves all reading out of the equation.
3. And as there are as many ways to teach to read time as there are students wanting to learn to read time, the Time Monster site is just one possible ways of the countless ways to learn to tell time.
About NoElbow http://www.NoElbow.com
NoElbow is a one-man Flash shop located somewhere in the United Kingdom. And I specialize in educational animations. My interest is in creating advanced Flash animation type applications. So far my most in-depth and time intensive site to program with actionscript was the TimeMonsters site to teach children how to read time. Flash is a fantastic program. It allows complete freedom of expression both artistically and technically. The programming language the drives Flash is called Actionscript and it is very flexible and how it works with the interface is fantastic. To create animations for No Elbow I use: Photoshop, Freehand, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Peak, Anime, TextMate, Fetch, Omnigraffle, and a couple others.
New Release Soon
I will be releasing a new version of Time Monsters very soon. Because the same teacher teaches more than one child to tell time in a classroom and in many cases the same computer is used to teach many different children how to read a clock etc...the one dimensional setup of the cookies on the current website is inadequate to handle more than one child learning to read time. Stay tuned.
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