Happy New Year Thematic Unit: Featuring Telling Time to the Hour

Although learning to tell time is not a math skill, and is not included as a Common Core Standard in kindergarten, the teaching of clocks as a tool for mathematical thinking is crucial. 

A clock is made of the numbers 1-12 laid out in numerical order. This alone makes the clock a handy aid when teaching counting and cardinality. Giving a student opportunity to work with clocks help develop number recognition, sequencing, and numerical order.

I think I have introduced clocks the first day back from winter break for the entire 25 years of my career (thank you Ruth Hepworth). Waiting for Monday morning, right at my carpet/calendar area, I have my little student size Judy Clocks ready to go and my copy of Hap Palmer’s, Paper Clocks ready for the play button to be pushed. After we have manipulated the clocks to the song a couple of times, I love to have the students construct their own clocks to take home and show off their new skill of telling time to the hour. 

Here are a few of our book and media suggestions with our affiliate link. 


Here are a few videos that I like to use to supplement my teaching of time. The Singlish version of Hickory Dickory Dock is my all-time favorite!

You may wish to check out our Happy New Year Unit that focuses on ways to measure time: Clocks and Calendars. Here are a few sample pages.


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New Year's Fun: Clocks & Calendar: Thematic Unit
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Product Description

Happy New Year Thematic Unit is filled with Curriculum Essentials for Math, Literacy, and More: Featuring Clocks, Calendar and New Year's Fun

New Year unit is divided into areas of literature, music, art, literacy, math, independent practice, creative writing, word wall, and guided reading. The activities are clearly written, easy to use, and need limited amounts of preparation. 

Literacy Activities:

New Year Lotto: Matching Upper & Lowercase Letters

The Party Palace: Blending & Segmenting Words

Happy New Year: Naming Letter Sounds

New Year Raceway: Reading Sightwords Fluently

Math Activities:

New Year Clocks: Matching Time to The Hour

Moving Hands: Manipulating a Clock to Tell Time

New Year's Bear Party: Joining Groups of Objects

Happy Friday Dance: Constructing & Using a Calendar

Countdown: Counting Backwards From a Given Number 0-20

Independent Practice

New Year Balloons: Reading Color Words

What Time Is It? Reading Analog Clocks and Writing Times Digitally

Fix The Clock: Drawing Hands on an Analog Clock

Firework Number Match: Matching Numerals 11-20 to a 10+Number

January Calendar: Trace & Write Numerals

Party Time: Matching Upper and Lowercase Letters

Art Projects

Party Hat & Streamers

Cone New Year's Hat

Baby New Year/GrandFather Time Flip-it

Writing Prompts/Word Wall

Happy New Year

What Will Happen This Year?

Happy New Year Word Wall

Songs/Fingerplays

A New Year

Months of the Year Song

Days of the Week Song

Guided Reading Books

Happy New Year

Tick Tock

Winter Thematic Unit

Winter Indépendant Writing Center Activities

Winter Sport Reading Intervention Games

Winter Guided Sight Word Readers Set 1

Winter Guided Sight Word Readers Set 2

Winter Subtraction

Winter Themed Books
$4.00

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Product Description

Differentiated Books for your emergent readers! Make the teaching of reading authentic and engaging.

Offering students a paper book that can be colored and taken home offers students authentic purpose for the reading instruction and opportunity to practice techniques at home. Students love these delightful stories that are ready to read on their level. The clip art is delightful!

Set Includes 9 Books

  1. Winter Fun

  2. Winter (two levels)

  3. Snow

  4. The Mitten (two levels)

  5. Happy New Year 

  6. How To Build A Snowman 

  7. My Snowmobile 

  8. Cocoa 

  9. Ice Skating

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Winter Thematic Unit

Winter Indépendant Writing Center Activities

Here's what purchasers are saying...

Amazing, thanks!!!

Another great unit! Thanks.

Fun way to ring in the new year, thanks!

Wonderful resource! I have been so happy with my Kindergarten Kiosk purchases!

My class had a blast with activities in this unit!

Great resource to have!

Kathy Crane