29th December Tick Tock Day

 

Tick… Tock… Tick… Tock… This is the sound of the year, and indeed your life, slowly slipping away. Every moment not spent living life to the fullest is another moment that is gone forever, impossible to reclaim. Tick Tock Day reminds you that the year is almost at an end, and there are things still left to be doing, and in fact, only two days left to do them in.

Time to have a close look at time!

Clocks and time

I have been having fun sharing poetry with Year 2 and we have been doing poetry long enough now for them to be really enjoying it and for them to have their own ideas about how to connect to a poem. Last week I shared two poems with Year 2 Clock  by Valerie Worth and Busy Day by Michael Rosen. I divided the class into two groups and we had great fun turning them into performances.  Both poems have a definite rhythm so they are easy to improvise on using sound effects, many voices and actions. I tried not to offer suggestions, but rather wait and see what they suggested and it paid off. Three out of four classes came up with great ideas in a short time. 

Understanding time is still a mystery to some eight year olds and it was interesting to then read and discuss the winning picture book, Timeless by Kelly Canby. Discussing the meaning of many of the  idioms about time that are used in the book made me realise how difficult the abstract nature of time is for young students even those whose first language is English. 'Time flies' was fine, but 'time slips through your fingertips' was too hard to comprehend for most of them.

I then got to thinking about 'time' and good books for a display. Is the time measurable? estimatable? vague? implied but unstated? ... these will give you plenty to discuss with a child or a whole class.

• One Minute  by Somin Ahn

• In a Minute  by Beth Shoshan

• Clocks and More Clocks  by Pat Hutchins

• Stop the Clock!  by Pippa Goodhart

• At This Very Moment  by Rob Hodgson

• Just a Second  by Steve Jenkins

• Between Tick and Tock by Ashling Lindsay

• Looking for Yesterday  by Alison Jay

• Once Upon a Time There Was and Will Be So Much More  by Johanna Schaible

•  One Day  by Steve Jenkins

• All About Time  by Charles Hope