All Aboard!

$All Aboard! book cover$

Grade 2
5 skill lessons

Math

Skill lessons

The mathematics the book carries, taught directly. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1The Hour Part and the Minutes Past
2On Time, or Not?
3How Much Time Before It Starts?
4The Fair Day on One Line
5Count the Fives to the Hour

Math + reading

Math through the reading

The same book, entered through a sentence it prints. Change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it.

No math-through-reading lessons for this book yet.

Reading

Reading and language lessons

The same book read as a text. What a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how the writing is put together - no mathematics.

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Skill lessons

5 lessons on the mathematics the book carries. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1. The Hour Part and the Minutes Past Concept · Reading a written clock time as an hour and the minutes past that hour

The book never draws a clock. It writes nineteen times as numerals across four days and expects a reader to know what each half of the numeral is doing: 10.30, 11.50, 12.45, 4.45, 9.30. Students take the trip's own times, cut each one in two at the point, set the short hand from the left half and count the right half round in fives, then say the same clock twice over, once as an hour with minutes past it and once in the o'clock and half past words the book also uses.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Cut the printed time in two (5 min)
Each pair takes the card reading 10.30, folds it along the point, and lays the two halves apart on the desk. Say aloud which half names an hour and which half counts minutes. Do the same with 11.50 and 4.45, and leave all three pairs of halves in a row.
Word preview: hour
They pulled into Corndale at exactly 10.30 and caught the state fair trolley at 11 o'clock.
2. Set both hands from the two halves (6 min)
Put the short hand on the numeral from the left half. Count the right half round in fives from the twelve and stop the long hand there. Read the clock back to your partner, then hand the card over and let them check the two hands against the two halves.
Word preview: minutes past
The bus pulled up at 11.50 and they got the happy cow at 12 o'clock.
3. Sort the trip's other times (5 min)
Deal the rest of the time cards face up. Sort them into times that land on an hour and times that land somewhere past one. Set two cards from each pile on the clock and say out loud what makes the two piles different.
Word preview: o'clock
The train stopped in sunny city Florida at 4.45.
We'll be fine if we're out the door at 9.30 on the dot.
4. Say the time two ways (4 min)
For each clock you have set, finish the frame out loud twice: the hour is ___ and it is ___ minutes past, and then half past ___ or ___ o'clock. Partners answer from the clock rather than the card, so the numerals have to come off the hands.
Word preview: half past, o'clock
At 12 o'clock, they heard a champion hog collar.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Set both hands from the two halves (6 min)
Fold the 11.50 card at the point. Put the short hand on the numeral from the left half and count the right half round in fives from the twelve. Read the clock back to your partner and let them check both hands against the halves.
Word preview: minutes past
The bus pulled up at 11.50 and they got the happy cow at 12 o'clock.
2. Say the time two ways (3 min)
Finish the frame out loud twice for your clock: the hour is ___ and it is ___ minutes past, then half past ___ or ___ o'clock.
Word preview: half past, o'clock
At 12 o'clock, they heard a champion hog collar.

Three levels

Support: Work only with the times that land on an hour and the two that land on the half hour, and leave the long hand parked on the twelve or the six. Students still cut the card, still set both hands and still say the time two ways; only the five-minute marks come off the table.
At Grade: Cut five of the trip's written times at the point, set both hands for each, and say every one of them two ways, as an hour with minutes past and in the o'clock or half past words.
Extension: Take 11.50 and 12.45, the two times whose minute half runs past the six, and say for each how far the long hand still has to travel to reach the next hour. Write the two answers beside the cards.

English learners

Clock numerals and the counting sequence carry across languages unchanged, so a child who counts to twelve in any language can already set both hands here. English is fussier about the words wrapped around the numerals: past runs the minutes forward from the hour just gone, half past names thirty rather than the half hour ahead, and o'clock attaches with no preposition at all. Rehearse one frame until it runs by itself, the hour is ___ and it is ___ minutes past. Invite students to work the reading out in their strongest language first and then say it back with the frame.

Materials

Time cards carrying the trip's written times, folded at the point, one set per pair
Paper clock faces with a movable short hand and a movable long hand, one per pair
Sorting mat headed on the hour and past the hour, one per pair
Word cards: half past, hour, minutes past, o'clock

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

2. On Time, or Not? Reasoning · Judging early, on time or late by holding a planned clock time beside what happened

This book almost never says how late anyone was. It says a word instead, and leaves a reader to work out what the word does to a clock: on schedule, behind schedule, late, on time. Students build the promise face and the what-happened face for two of the trip's stops, count the minutes between them where the book prints both times, and choose the book's own word for each pair, then defend the choice by pointing at the two faces rather than at the story.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Set the promise clock (5 min)
Read the promise strip for your stop aloud and set the left clock to the time in it. Do this for Corndale and again for the taxi. Say out loud that these two faces show times nobody has reached yet.
Word preview: promise
We get to Corndale at 10.30 and find lockers for our bags.
The taxi was supposed to be here at 3.30.
2. Set the what-happened clock (6 min)
Read the second strip for the same stop and set the right clock beside the first. Corndale gives you a time to set. The taxi gives you no time at all, only the driver's words, so leave that face blank and lay a word card on it instead.
Word preview: on schedule
They pulled into Corndale at exactly 10.30 and caught the state fair trolley at 11 o'clock.
Sorry I'm late, said the driver.
3. Count the gap and name it (5 min)
Where both faces carry a time, count the minutes from the promise to what happened and say the number aloud. Where only one face carries a time, say whether the gap is bigger than nothing or exactly nothing, and how you know that from the words alone.
Word preview: behind schedule
I'm behind schedule today.
4. Say the judgement (4 min)
Finish the frame out loud for each stop: they said ___, it was really ___, so they were ___. Partners listen for a judgement with no number in it and answer by asking which two faces it came from.
Word preview: on time
We're on schedule, he said.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Set the what-happened clock (6 min)
The left face already shows the promise for Corndale. Read the second strip and set the right face beside it, then do the taxi, where there is no second time and a word card goes on the blank face instead.
Word preview: on schedule
They pulled into Corndale at exactly 10.30 and caught the state fair trolley at 11 o'clock.
Sorry I'm late, said the driver.
2. Say the judgement (3 min)
Finish the frame out loud for both stops: they said ___, it was really ___, so they were ___.
Word preview: on time
We're on schedule, he said.

Three levels

Support: Work only the Corndale stop, where the book prints both times, with the promise face already set. Students still set the second face, still count the gap and still say the frame; only the taxi stop, where the second time has to be got out of words, is held back.
At Grade: Build both faces for Corndale and for the taxi, count the gap wherever two times exist, choose the book's word for each pair, and say the frame with the count in it.
Extension: Take the wedding morning, where the book prints the plan at half past nine and the wedding at ten and never says what time anyone got out of the door. Say what the second face would have to read for on the dot to be true, and what it would have to read for behind schedule to be true.

English learners

Counting is the open half of this: the jump between two faces is the same jump in any language. The English is idiom rather than vocabulary. On schedule and behind schedule are fixed phrases whose words cannot be swapped or looked up one at a time, and on the dot names exactness with no clock word in it at all. Hand the phrases out whole on cards and rehearse one frame, they said ___, it was really ___, so they were ___. Invite students to judge the pair of faces in their strongest language and then place the English card.

Materials

Promise strips and what-happened strips in two colours, one set per pair
Two paper clock faces per pair with a movable short hand and a movable long hand
Schedule word cards reading on schedule, behind schedule, late and on time, one set per pair
Word cards: behind schedule, on schedule, on time, promise

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

3. How Much Time Before It Starts? Application · Finding the minutes between a stated time and the time something is due to start

Three times on this trip the family has exactly half an hour between one clock time and the next fixed thing, and the book never adds one of them up. Students mark both times of a pair on a face with counters, walk the long hand from the first to the second counting in fives, and record four gaps, so that the taxi's margin, the Corndale margin and the wedding-morning margin turn out to be the same size and the Herdville bus ride turns out not to be.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Mark both times on the face (5 min)
Put a red counter on the clock where the taxi was due and a blue counter where the show begins. Say which counter the long hand reaches first. Leave both counters on the face.
Word preview: due
The taxi was supposed to be here at 3.30.
so Graham, Kitt, and Jay had just enough time to see the 4 o'clock magic show.
2. Count the minutes between them (6 min)
Walk the long hand from the red counter to the blue one, saying five, ten, fifteen and on, one number word for each five-minute mark. Write the count in the first box. Clear the face and run the wedding morning the same way, red on the time they leave and blue on the time the wedding starts.
Word preview: minutes
We'll be fine if we're out the door at 9.30 on the dot.
The weddings at 10 o'clock tomorrow.
3. Do the short one (5 min)
Set the counters at ten to twelve and at noon and walk the hand between them. This gap takes two number words where the others took six. Write it in the Herdville box and say out loud which of your gaps is smallest.
The bus pulled up at 11.50 and they got the happy cow at 12 o'clock.
4. Say which gap was biggest (4 min)
Read your four counts aloud in order. Three of them are the same number. Say that number, say which one is different, and say how many minutes shorter it is.
Word preview: shorter
They pulled into Corndale at exactly 10.30 and caught the state fair trolley at 11 o'clock.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Count the minutes between them (6 min)
Put a red counter where the taxi was due and a blue counter where the show begins, then walk the long hand from red to blue, one number word for each five-minute mark. Write the count down and run the wedding morning the same way.
Word preview: minutes
The taxi was supposed to be here at 3.30.
We'll be fine if we're out the door at 9.30 on the dot.
2. Say which gap was biggest (3 min)
Read your counts aloud. Say which two are the same number and say that number.
Word preview: shorter
They pulled into Corndale at exactly 10.30 and caught the state fair trolley at 11 o'clock.

Three levels

Support: Give the pair one gap, the wedding morning, with both counters already on the face. Students still walk the hand and still count in fives; only the job of finding the two times inside the sentences is taken off them.
At Grade: Find the two times in each pair of sentences, mark them, count the minutes between them in fives, record all four gaps and say which one is the odd size.
Extension: Three of these gaps are half an hour and the family made every one of them. Say what would have had to be true of the taxi for half an hour not to be enough, using the driver's own two words and a number of minutes.

English learners

Walking a hand round a face and counting in fives is the same act in every language, so the arithmetic here is open to everyone from the first minute. The English worth teaching is the vocabulary of margins: due names a time something is expected rather than a time it arrives, and just enough time says a gap is exactly used up with none over. Neither phrase survives being taken apart word by word. Rehearse one frame, the ___ was due at ___, the ___ starts at ___, so there are ___ minutes. Invite students to settle the count in their strongest language and then report it with the frame.

Materials

Clock faces with a movable long hand and red and blue counters, one set per pair
Recording strip with four boxes headed taxi, Corndale, wedding morning and Herdville bus
Word cards: due, minutes, shorter

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

4. The Fair Day on One Line Representation · Putting a single day's stated clock times in order on a time line

The book stamps a clock time on almost everything that happens at the fair and never lays those times anywhere a reader can see them at once. Students build that view: six cards carrying the day's stated times, pinned along a strip ruled in half hours from ten o'clock to five, spaced by counting the marks between neighbours, and then walked end to end while one partner tells the day in order and the other checks that nothing has been skipped.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the six cards (4 min)
Deal the six time cards face up and read each one aloud with the place it belongs to. Do not order them yet. Say which card names the earliest time you can hear and which names the latest.
Word preview: earliest
At 12 o'clock, they heard a champion hog collar.
At 12.45, Graham decided to enter a pie-eating contest.
2. Pin them along the line (7 min)
Lay the cards on the ruled strip so each one sits at its own time. Two of your cards do not land on a mark at all. For each of those two, decide whether it sits nearer the mark before it or the mark after it, and say why out loud. Peg every card down before you move on.
Word preview: between
They pulled into Corndale at exactly 10.30 and caught the state fair trolley at 11 o'clock.
We can get a trolley at 2.30 and still be back in time to catch our train.
3. Count the half hours between neighbours (5 min)
Count the marks between each pair of neighbouring cards and write the count in the space between them. Check one span against a clock face by walking the long hand. Move any card whose spacing does not match its count.
Word preview: span
The train stopped in sunny city Florida at 4.45.
4. Walk the line and tell the day (4 min)
One partner walks a finger along the strip from the first card to the last, stopping on each. The other says the time and what happened there, in that order, with no card skipped. Swap and run it again from the last card backwards.
Word preview: order
There was lots to do while they waited.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Pin them along the line (6 min)
Lay the six time cards on the ruled strip so each sits at its own time. Two cards do not land on a mark at all; for each, decide whether it sits nearer the mark before it or the mark after it, and say why. Peg them all down.
Word preview: between
They pulled into Corndale at exactly 10.30 and caught the state fair trolley at 11 o'clock.
We can get a trolley at 2.30 and still be back in time to catch our train.
2. Walk the line and tell the day (3 min)
One partner walks a finger from the first card to the last, stopping on each; the other says the time and what happened there.
Word preview: order
There was lots to do while they waited.

Three levels

Support: Hand the pair the six cards already in order and let them pin, space and walk the line. Students still count the marks between neighbours and still tell the day card by card; only the ordering is done for them.
At Grade: Order all six cards, pin each at its own time, count the half-hour spans between neighbours and walk the line both ways, telling the day at every card.
Extension: Two of your cards sit closer together than any others on the line. Say how many minutes apart they are without counting the marks, working only from the two written times, then check yourself on the clock face.

English learners

Ordering and counting marks carry across languages without loss, and so do the numerals on the cards. The English to teach is the language of position on a line: between, just after, nearly, and the ordinal words first and last. English also puts the time before the event in these sentences, at 12.45 Grandma entered the contest, where several languages put the event first. Rehearse one frame until it runs by itself, at ___ they ___, and then at ___ they ___. Invite students to argue the order out in their strongest language and then walk the line in English with the frame.

Materials

Six time cards, each carrying one stated time from the fair day and the place it belongs to
Time-line strip ruled in half hours from ten o'clock to five o'clock, one per pair
Pegs or tape
Paper clock face with a movable long hand, one per pair
Word cards: between, earliest, order, span

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

5. Count the Fives to the Hour Fluency · Counting on by five minutes from a stated time to the hour that follows it

Most of the trip's written times sit part-way through an hour, and every one of them is a count away from the hour that follows. Students run that count until it is quick: half past nine to ten, half past ten to eleven, half past three to four, ten to twelve to noon, quarter to one to one and quarter to five to five. Two timed rounds and a written record of the number words say whether the count is running by itself yet or still being worked out mark by mark.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Warm up on the half hour (4 min)
Everyone sets the long hand on the six and counts round to the twelve out loud together, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty, one number word for each mark, twice through. Then run it again silently and say only the thirty.
Word preview: half past
We'll be fine if we're out the door at 9.30 on the dot.
2. Count from the book's times (7 min)
Draw a time card, set the long hand where it says and count on to the next hour, one number word per mark. Say the total, then draw again. Work through all six cards without stopping to check.
Word preview: count on
The bus pulled up at 11.50 and they got the happy cow at 12 o'clock.
At 12.45, Graham decided to enter a pie-eating contest.
3. Beat the round (5 min)
Shuffle the cards and run the whole set again while your partner counts the seconds on the wall clock. Write the time in the first box. Shuffle and run it once more, and write that in the second.
4. Write the count you used (4 min)
For two of the cards, write down the number words you said, in order, and circle the last one. Read your circled numbers to your partner and let them name the card each one came from.
Word preview: quarter to
The train stopped in sunny city Florida at 4.45.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Warm up on the half hour (3 min)
Set the long hand on the six and count round to the twelve out loud, one number word for each mark, twice through.
Word preview: half past
We'll be fine if we're out the door at 9.30 on the dot.
2. Count from the book's times (6 min)
Draw a time card, set the long hand where it says and count on to the next hour, one number word per mark. Say the total, then draw again until the cards run out.
Word preview: count on
The bus pulled up at 11.50 and they got the happy cow at 12 o'clock.
At 12.45, Graham decided to enter a pie-eating contest.

Three levels

Support: Use the three cards that land on the half hour, 9.30, 10.30 and 3.30, and let a partner echo each number word. Students still set the hand themselves and still count in fives to the hour; only the cards with short, irregular counts are held back.
At Grade: Run all six cards, setting the hand and counting on to the next hour each time, then run the set twice against the clock and record both rounds.
Extension: Three of these cards give the same count. Say which three and why they must, then predict the count for 12.45 before you set the hand, and check yourself.

English learners

The five-times sequence is already known in many languages and carries here untouched, so a child can join the count on the first round. The English that has to be taught is the naming of the marks, because English has two systems for the same point on the face: quarter to five and 4.45 are the same place, and to counts backwards from the hour ahead while past counts forwards from the hour behind. Rehearse one frame, from ___ it is ___ minutes to ___ o'clock. Invite students to count in their strongest language during the timed rounds and to report the total in English with the frame.

Materials

Paper clock faces with a movable long hand, one per student
Six time cards reading 9.30, 10.30, 11.50, 12.45, 3.30 and 4.45, one set per pair
Timing sheet with two boxes, one per pair
Word cards: count on, half past, quarter to

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.