Students extend their time-reading skills to include half-hours, when the minute hand points to 6. They learn that a half-hour is 30 minutes and comes between two whole hours.
You already know how to read a clock when the minute hand points straight up to the 12 — that means it is exactly on the hour, like 3:00 or 7:00. Now the minute hand has a new important stopping place: the 6 at the bottom of the clock. When the minute hand points to the 6, exactly 30 minutes have passed since the last hour. We call this the half-hour, because 30 minutes is half of 60 minutes (one full hour).
Think of a clock face like a circle divided in two halves. The top half — from 12 around to 6 — takes 30 minutes for the minute hand to travel. When the minute hand completes that top journey and arrives at the 6, we say it is "half past" the hour. So if the hour hand is pointing near the 3 and the minute hand points to the 6, the time is 3:30 — half past three, or "thirty minutes after three."
Here is an easy way to read a half-hour time: look at the hour hand first. At a half-hour, the hour hand will be between two numbers — it has started moving toward the next hour but has not reached it yet. The smaller of the two numbers the hour hand is between is the current hour. Then, because the minute hand is on the 6, you write :30. So if the hour hand is between 7 and 8, the time is 7:30.
Practice by thinking about your own day. If breakfast is at 7:00 and you finish eating 30 minutes later, breakfast ends at 7:30. If your favorite show starts at 4:00 and runs for 30 minutes, it ends at 4:30. Connecting these half-hour times to real events helps the idea stick — the clock is just a way to describe where you are in your day.
No topics depend on this one yet.