Measure Elapsed Time in Minutes

Students will determine how much time has passed between a start time and an end time. They will use strategies such as counting up on a number line, using clock jumps, or adding/subtracting minutes and hours to find elapsed time.

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Grade 3 · Telling Time & Time Intervals · question 1 of 3

0 of 12

12 rungs. A star at the top.

From 9:45 to 9:55 is ___ minutes

Your answer:

How it is taught

0:00 of 3:35

Elapsed time is how many minutes pass from start to end.

Count up in chunks of hours and minutes.

Read it: Count minutes by fives

The clock starts at 10:40. Later it reads five past eleven. Count by fives around the top to see how long that took.

Start at the first minute hand: 10:40.
Jump five minutes at each number until you reach five past eleven.
Five jumps of five: 25 minutes have passed.

Counting every little mark from 10:40 to five past eleven works, but you lose track as the hand crosses twelve.

Each numbered tick is five minutes, so you only count the jumps, not every tiny mark.

Crossing twelve does not start the wait over; you keep adding the five-minute jumps after the hour changes.

Count by fives around the clock from the start time to the end time.

Counting 10:40 to five past eleven as fifteen minutes, because five looks close to forty.

Jump five minutes at each number past the twelve. Five jumps make 25 minutes.

From 1:10 to 2:05: ___ minutes — 55. 1:10 to 2:00 is 50 minutes; 2:00 to 2:05 is 5 minutes.

From 3:45 to 4:20

Soccer practice starts at three forty-five and ends at four twenty. How long is practice?

We'll use a number line. The start time, three forty-five, goes on the left. The end time, four twenty, goes on the right.

Let's count up. What's the next friendly time after three forty-five?

Four o'clock! From three forty-five to four o'clock is fifteen minutes. We jump fifteen.

Now from four o'clock to four twenty. How many more minutes?

Twenty more minutes! We jump twenty.

Now we add our jumps. Fifteen plus twenty is thirty-five.

Grade 3 · Counting up on a number line to find elapsed time

Soccer practice lasts thirty-five minutes. Great counting up!

What you see

While they climb, your page writes one true line to ask about tonight, and a short note each Sunday.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics

Did you know?

A chessboard has 64 squares — share them out between the 8 rows and each row holds exactly 8.

Today’s goal: 1 star — one skill mastered, every rung of its ladder climbed
Climbing now: Divide within 100

An example student.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics

Maya earned 2 stars this week — Interpret multiplication as equal groups, which took 6 answers over 3 days before its star landed 3 days ago and Multiply by 6, 7, 8 and 9. Next up: Divide within 100.

An example week.

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