Duration and Sequence: a week of ready-to-teach maths

Five days of lessons for Year 1. Print this pack and the week is prepared: each day has a one-page plan and a student worksheet, plus cut-out cards, a mini-check and every answer.

Start here: five minutes to Monday

1. Skim the week at a glance on the next page.
2. Print the five days. Each day is two A4 sheets: a plan and a worksheet.
3. Cut out the two card sheets once; they are reused all week.
4. Open the free interactive unit on your board. Every plan tells you which picture to show and when.
5. Teach straight from the plan. Timings, talk prompts, misconceptions and answers are all on the one page.

No maths background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each plan explains the idea in plain words, lists the misconceptions children bring, and gives model answers, so you can walk in and teach it.

One day, one lesson

The five lessons fill a week of maths, one lesson of about 40 minutes a day. Run them in order: each day stands on the one before. Every lesson can also split into a short warm-up and a main session if your timetable runs small blocks.

The week at a glance

One lesson a day for a week. Each day stands on the day before, so run them in order.

How the week builds

Day 1 names the time units and nests them, biggest to smallest; Day 2 puts the seven days in order and spins them into a loop; Day 3 compares how long events take; Day 4 sequences the events of a single day; and Day 5 walks the twelve months around the year. It builds on comparing and ordering, and it opens the way to reading a clock and a calendar later on.

Materials for the week (one trip)

• From the classroom: scissors, pencils, this pack printed.
• A wall calendar or a pocket chart, if you have one, to mark the day and the month together each morning.
• Cut out once, use all week: the day cards, the month cards and the event cards in this pack. No maths equipment to buy.

Dear families

This week in maths, Year 1 is learning about time: the units year, month, week, day and hour, the order of the seven days and the twelve months, how long things take, and how the events of a day follow one another.

Try this at home

• Each morning, ask together: what day is it today, what day was yesterday, what is tomorrow?
• Look at a calendar and name the month you are in, then the month that comes next.
• Wonder aloud what takes longer: a car trip to the shops, or a whole night’s sleep?
• At bedtime, put the routine in order together: dinner, then bath, then a story, then sleep.

My week

Fill one row a day. Tick when you have said the day and named something that took a long time or a short time.

Printed from the free seegongsik Duration and Sequence teaching pack · seegongsik.com/au/y1/measurement/AC9M1M03/pack

Boxes inside boxes

Time comes in containers that fit inside one another. A year holds twelve months, a month holds about four weeks, a week holds seven days, and a day holds hours. Naming the units and nesting them, biggest to smallest, is the foundation for reading a calendar and a clock.

We are learning to

• name the time units year, month, week, day and hour,
• put them in order from biggest to smallest,
• know that a week has 7 days and a year has 12 months.

Success criteria

• I can order the time words from biggest to smallest.
• I can say how many days are in a week.

You need

The day cards and the month cards (cut-out sheet 1), one set per group. The worksheet, one per child. A wall calendar helps.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after counting the containers. Start Session B by ordering the word cards biggest to smallest, then the worksheet.

Watch for these ideas

• Thinking a week is longer than a month: a month holds about four weeks, so the month is bigger.
• Muddling the order of the units: keep zooming from the biggest box to the smallest.
• Guessing how many days are in a week: count them on the day cards, there are seven.

Answers

• Biggest to smallest: year, month, week, day, hour.
• A week has 7 days. A year has 12 months.
• The write-in words, top to bottom: week, year, day, month, hour.

Boxes inside boxes

Order the time words

Here are the time words, all mixed up. Write them in order, from biggest to smallest.

Biggest to smallest: ____________, ____________, ____________, ____________, ____________.

Count the days

How many days are in one week? ____

How many months are in one year? ____

Which time word fits?

Read each one. Write the time word that fits best: year, month, week, day or hour.

The week wheel

The seven days come in one fixed order, and the order goes around like a wheel: after Sunday comes Monday again. Once a child holds this sequence, they can say what day it is today, what was yesterday and what is tomorrow.

We are learning to

• say the seven days in order from Monday,
• find today, yesterday and tomorrow,
• know the wheel goes around: after Sunday comes Monday.

Success criteria

• I can say the days in order, starting at Monday.
• I can name tomorrow and yesterday from today.

You need

The day cards (cut-out sheet 1), one set per group. The worksheet, one per child. A class calendar helps.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after building the wheel. Start Session B by going around from Sunday to Monday, then the worksheet.

Watch for these ideas

• Thinking the days have no fixed order: they always run Monday, Tuesday and so on.
• Swapping yesterday and tomorrow, which point in opposite directions round the wheel.
• Forgetting the wheel goes around, so after Sunday they think the week ends.

Answers

• In order: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
• The missing days on the worksheet are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
• If today is Wednesday, tomorrow is Thursday and yesterday was Tuesday.

The week wheel

Fill in the missing days

Write the days that are missing. The week starts at Monday.

Today is Wednesday

Tomorrow will be ____________.

Yesterday was ____________.

Careful with Monday and Sunday: the wheel goes around, so the day after Sunday is Monday.

How long does it take?

Some events are over in a flash and some last a long time. Duration is how long an event takes. Today we compare events two at a time to say which takes longer, then sort a handful from the shortest to the longest.

We are learning to

• compare two events and say which takes longer,
• use the words quick, a long time, longer and shorter,
• put a few events in order from shortest to longest.

Success criteria

• I can say which of two events takes longer.
• I can order events from shortest to longest.

You need

The event cards (cut-out sheet 2), one set per group. The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after which-takes-longer. Start Session B by lining up three events, then the worksheet.

Watch for these ideas

• Muddling quick with a long time, especially when a short wait feels slow.
• Judging by how exciting an event is, not how long it lasts.
• Thinking a bigger, more important event must always take longer.

Answers

• Takes longer: eating your dinner; a whole school day; growing one year older.
• Shortest to longest: clapping once, eating lunch, the summer holidays.
• Clapping takes a moment, lunch takes minutes, and the summer holidays take weeks.

Which takes longer?

Look at each pair. Circle the one that takes longer.

Order them

These three events take different amounts of time. Number them 1, 2, 3 from shortest to longest.

1. The summer holidays ____
2. Clapping once ____
3. Eating lunch ____

Shortest gets a 1. Longest gets a 3.

Order the day

The events of a day come one after another in the same order: we wake, we go to school, we eat lunch, we come home, we go to bed. Sequencing a day gives children the words first, next and last, and before and after, which they will use to read a timetable.

We are learning to

• put the events of a day in order, morning to night,
• use the words first, next and last,
• say what comes before and after an event.

Success criteria

• I can put a day’s events in order.
• I can say what comes before and after an event.

You need

The event cards (cut-out sheet 2), one set per group. The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after putting the day in order. Start Session B with before and after, then the worksheet.

Watch for these ideas

• Thinking the events have no order, when a day runs the same way each time.
• Losing the order in the middle, even when first and last are secure.
• Muddling before and after, which point in opposite directions.

Answers

• In order: wake up, go to school, eat lunch, come home, go to bed.
• Just after wake up is go to school. Just before go to bed is come home.
• Eat lunch is in the middle: school comes before it and coming home comes after.

Put the day in order

Here are five things we do in a day, all mixed up. Number them 1 to 5 in the order they happen.

1. Eat lunch ____
2. Wake up ____
3. Go to bed ____
4. Go to school ____
5. Come home ____

Wake up gets a 1. Go to bed gets a 5.

Before and after

What do you do right after you wake up? ____________________________

What do you do right before you go to bed? ____________________________

The year track

A year is a track of twelve months, January to December, and it goes around: after December the year starts again at January. In Australia the seasons sit differently from the storybooks, with summer over Christmas. After the year track, the class does the end-of-week mini-check.

We are learning to

• say the twelve months in order from January,
• name the month that comes after a given one,
• place a special day, like a birthday, on the year.

Success criteria

• I can name the month that comes after another month.
• I can find my birthday month on the year.

You need

The month cards (cut-out sheet 1), one set per group. The worksheet, one per child. A wall calendar helps. The mini-check from the back of the pack.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after walking the months and marking the seasons. Start Session B with the mini-check.

Watch for these ideas

• Saying the months out of order, or losing them in the middle of the year.
• Thinking there are only ten or four months: count all twelve on the cards.
• Expecting snow at Christmas: in Australia December is in summer.

Answers

• The missing months are February, April, June, August, October and December.
• The month after June is July. The month after December is January, as the year goes around.
• Summer months in Australia are December, January and February. The birthday mark varies by child.

The year track

Fill in the missing months

Write the months that are missing. The year starts at January.

Which month comes next?

The month after June is ____________.

The month after December is ____________.

Mark your birthday

Draw a star next to the month your birthday is in on the track above.

In Australia, summer is December, January and February. Christmas comes in summer.

Day and month cards

Cut out the cards. Use the day cards to build the week and the week wheel (Days 1 and 2). Use the month cards to fill a year and walk the year track (Days 1 and 5). One set per group is plenty.

Day cards

Month cards

Teacher note: there are seven day cards and twelve month cards, the same seven days and twelve months the class walks around on screen in the interactive unit.

Event cards for a day

Cut out the event cards. Compare how long two events take (Day 3), and lay them in the order they happen across a day, wake up first and go to bed last (Day 4). There is room to draw a picture on each card so young children can read it without words.

Teacher note: the event cards are everyday actions, so the floor game and the screen match. Add cards for events that are special to your class.

What we know: duration and sequence

Work on your own. Your teacher will read each question aloud.

1. Put these time words in order from biggest to smallest: day, year, hour, week. ____, ____, ____, ____
2. How many days make one week? ____
3. If today is Friday, tomorrow is ____________.
4. Which takes longer: brushing your teeth, or a whole school day? ____________________________
5. Number these in the order they happen in a day: eat lunch ____, wake up ____, go to bed ____
6. How many months are in one year? ____
7. Which month comes after March? ____________
8. If today is Wednesday, yesterday was ____________.

Answers and marking guide

Answers

1. year, week, day, hour.
2. 7.
3. Saturday.
4. a whole school day.
5. wake up (1), eat lunch (2), go to bed (3).
6. 12.
7. April.
8. Tuesday.

A quick three-level guide

Eight questions, four ideas. A child at standard answers most questions and can order the week and the day.

Weekly class record

Jot a tick as you move around the room; the mini-check fills any gaps. A tick a day is plenty.

The five columns are the five days: nest the units, spin the week wheel, compare how long events take, order the day, and walk the year track.