How can you tell they’ve got it: Telling time to the minute?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Use a sand timer or stopwatch to time an activity; Begin to understand that 1 minute = 60 seconds; Record a duration in simple terms (e.g. 'it took about 2 minutes'). Or just try it together: If your child watches the second hand go all the way round a clock, can they count that as one minute — and estimate roughly how many minutes their favourite TV show lasts?

Mathematics Measurement Ages 5–6

Telling time to the minute

Your child can time things in hours, minutes and seconds. They know one minute is 60 seconds, using a stopwatch or sand timer.

In curriculum terms

Measure and begin to record time in hours, minutes, and seconds

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Use a sand timer or stopwatch to time an activity
Begin to understand that 1 minute = 60 seconds
Record a duration in simple terms (e.g. 'it took about 2 minutes')

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Try this together

If your child watches the second hand go all the way round a clock, can they count that as one minute — and estimate roughly how many minutes their favourite TV show lasts?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Comparing durationsages 4–6Measuring time in units requires understanding time comparison language first

Telling time to the minutethis skill · ages 5–6

Unlocks

Telling Time: Hours and Half Hoursages 5–6Telling time on a clock requires understanding hours and minutes as time units

Number of minutes in an hourages 6–7Knowing 60 min = 1 hour and 24 hours = 1 day extends from measuring time in hours/minutes/seconds

Sequence intervals of timeages 6–7Sequencing intervals requires understanding time measurement

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 2 NSW · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9M2M04medium confidenceYear 2 · Measurement

recognise and read the time represented on an analog clock to the hour, half-hour and quarter-hour

AC9MFM01low confidenceFoundation · Measurement

identify and compare attributes of objects and events, including length, capacity, mass and duration, using direct comparisons and communicating reasoning

AC9M1M03low confidenceYear 1 · Measurement

describe the duration and sequence of events using years, months, weeks, days and hours

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

MA1-NSM-02medium confidenceMathematics K-10 · Stage 1

MA1-GM-02low confidenceMathematics K-10 · Stage 1

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2M2M04low confidenceMathematics · Level 2 · Measurement strand

VC2MFM01low confidenceMathematics · Foundation · Measurement strand

VC2M1M03low confidenceMathematics · Level 1 · Measurement strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Capacity and volumeages 5–6 Coin Valuesages 5–6 Days, Weeks, Months & Yearsages 5–6 Measuring length and heightages 5–6

All Measurement skills →