Lesson video

Hello, there.

My name is Mr. Tilston.

I'm a teacher, and my favourite subject is definitely maths.

So you can imagine how excited and delighted I am to be working with you today on your maths lesson, which is all about time.

So if you're ready, I'm ready.

And let's begin.

The outcome of today's lesson is I can say how many seconds there are in a minute.

We've got two keywords today.

My turn, estimate.

Your turn.

My turn, seconds.

Your turn.

To estimate is to find a value that is close enough to the right answer, usually with some thought or calculation involved.

So it's like a really well thought-out guess.

And there are 60 seconds in one minute, and we're going to investigate that today.

Our lesson is split into two cycles.

The first will be the number of seconds in a minute, and the second, timing events and actions using seconds.

So if you're ready, let's start by looking at the number of seconds in a minute.

In this lesson, you're going to meet Aisha, Jun and Sofia.

Have you met them before? They're very helpful, and they're here to help us with our maths today.

Have a look at this clock.

As well as having an hour hand, so that's the short hand, and a minute hand, that's one of the long hands, some clocks have a hand showing seconds.

Have you seen that before? So in this case, on this clock, look, it's one of the long hands, but it's very long and thin.

Sometimes they're red.

The hour and minute hands move so slowly that it's very hard to see them moving at all.

They are moving, but you can't really see them moving.

However, the second hand moves quickly enough so that we can see it moving.

It's a very quick movement.

On some clocks, it moves in one smooth, continuous movement, and on some clocks, it jumps from one second to the next, like this.

The minutes scale on a clock does two jobs.

It can be used to show how many minutes have passed, which you've probably spent a lot of time learning about, after each hour, using the minute hand.

So that's one of the jobs of the minutes scale, but it's got a second job as well.

It can also be used to show how many seconds have passed after each minute, using the second hand.

There are the same number of seconds in a minute as there are minutes in an hour.

That is why they can be shown on the same scale.

And that number is 60.

There are 60 seconds in a minute.

Shout it.

I'll do it first.

Ready? There are 60 seconds in a minute! You do it.

Goodness, that was loud.

Say it slowly There are 60 seconds in a minute.

Can you do it slowly? Go.

That was really slow.

What about saying it quickly? I'm gonna do a deep breath and then go for it.

(inhales deeply) There are 60 seconds in a minute.

Ooh.

Can you do it really, really quickly like that? Off you go.

That was quick.

Now I'm going to say it in a silly voice.

I'm going to do it in, I like doing a monster voice, so monster voice it is.

There are 60 seconds in a minute.

Can you do it in a monster voice or any silly voice? Off you go.

Very good.

And then, finally, we're going to whisper it.

So there are 60 seconds in a minute.

You whisper it.

Go.

Very good.

Beads on a string could be used to represent the number of seconds that have gone past on a clock.

So five seconds past, 10 seconds past, 15 seconds past, 20 seconds past.

Now, this is five seconds past, but this is five seconds past and a bit.

So that's six seconds past.

This is a different five seconds and a bit.

That's seven seconds past.

This is a different five seconds and a bit.

That's eight seconds past.

This is a different five seconds and a bit.

That's nine seconds past.

So this is 10 seconds past.

10 and a bit, 11 seconds.

10 and a bit, 12 seconds.

10 and a bit, 13 seconds.

10 and a bit, 14 seconds.

So there are 60 seconds in a minute.

That's our key fact for today.

You could take a bead string containing 60 beads and turn it into a circle to represent the seconds on a clock, just like so.

So if you've got a bead string and it's got 60 beads on, that's something you could do.

And then we're going to add it to a clock.

Let's count around the clock in steps of five seconds.

Observe the number the second hand is pointing to each time.

Ready? So this is five seconds.

Look what number it's pointing to there.

This is 10 seconds.

But what number is it pointing to? 15 seconds.

What number? 20 seconds.

Count with me.

25 seconds.

30 seconds.

35 seconds.

40 seconds.

45 seconds.

50 seconds.

55 seconds.

60 seconds.

Did you notice anything there? Hmm.

The second hand is pointing to the number mm.

So mm seconds have passed after each new minute.

So that's our stem sentence, and we're going to experiment with some different numbers now.

So the second hand is pointing to the number one.

So how many seconds have passed? Not one second, is it? But how many have passed by that point? Look at the beads for a little clue.

Five seconds.

Let's say that together.

The second hand is pointing to the number one, so five seconds have passed after the new minute.

Let's do another one.

The second hand is pointing to the number mm.

So mm seconds have passed after the new minute.

Well, this time, it's pointing to the number two.

How many seconds have passed, though? It's not two.

Do you know what it is? You look at the beads.

10.

Five, 10.

The second hand is pointing to the number.

What is it this time? Three.

So how many seconds have passed? It's not three.

We've had five.

We've had 10.

What could it be? 15.

15 seconds have passed after the new minute.

Ooh, now what about this one? So we're not going in order this time.

We went five, 10, 15.

But this is not in order.

The second hand is pointing to the number mm.

So mm seconds have passed after the new minute.

Hmm.

Well, it's pointing to number 10.

That's the easy part.

But how many seconds is that? Now, we could count five, 10, 15, 20, until we get there.

We could do that, but maybe you can remember some rules about minutes.

When the minute hand's pointing to the number 10, how many minutes have passed? Because it's the same with seconds.

So what do you think? 50, 50 seconds have passed after the new minute.

Time for a check.

The second hand is pointing to the number mm.

So mm seconds have passed after the new minute.

I want you to say that whole sentence with the numbers in it.

Pause the video.

Did you get it? Let's have a look.

So the second hand is pointing to the number seven.

That was the easy part.

So, this is the tricky part, how many seconds have passed? 35.

And if we multiply 7 by 5, we get 35.

This time, the second hand is in between the numbers.

So it's not showing 15 seconds.

Look, it's showing 15 and a bit.

How many bits? Hmm? It's in between three and four.

So between 15 and 20 seconds have passed.

Specifically, 16 seconds have gone past.

So it's 15 and a bit.

The bit was one.

One more second.

That's 16 seconds.

What about this? The second hand this time is in between 10 and 11.

So between 50 and 55 seconds have passed.

Or you might say 50 and a bit.

How many bits? How many extra seconds? 53 seconds have gone past altogether.

Jun says, "This is only one second away from 30 seconds past." Oh, yes, it is, isn't it? So Jun says, "It is 31 seconds past." Hmm.

I'm not sure about that.

Are you? I think he might be wrong there.

Hmm.

Jun's incorrect.

The second hand, this time, is in between five and six.

So that means between 25 and 30 seconds have passed.

So it's got to be a number in between those two.

We could say it's 25 and a bit seconds, or we could say it's 30 seconds, take away a little bit.

And, in fact, it's one second away from 30 seconds past.

It was right there.

But it's 29 seconds past.

So do take care and look at the numbers that it's in between.

We can take away those beads.

We don't need those anymore.

And the clock's still showing 29 seconds past.

So we're going to carry on now without the beads.

Let's do a check.

Complete the stem sentence.

The second hand this time is in between mm and mm, so between mm and mm seconds have passed.

Mm seconds have gone past.

Have a look at that.

Have a think, have a go.

Pause the video.

Did you get it? Let's have a look.

Well, the second hand this time is in between seven and eight.

So that means between 35, because 7 times 5 is 35, and 40, because 8 times 5 is 40, seconds have passed.

But specifically, how many? So it's a number in between 35 and 40.

And we can either look at 35 and a bit and see how many bits, or it's pretty close to 40, but just one less than that.

And I think that's even more efficient.

So one less than 40 is 39.

39 seconds have passed.

It's time for some practise.

Number one.

How many seconds are there in a minute? Our big fact of the day, you whispered it, you shouted it, you said it in a silly voice.

Can you still remember it? And number two, how many seconds have gone past on each clock? Number three, draw times on the clocks using the second hand.

So you want a long, thin hand.

If you've got something red, like a red crayon, red pen, you could do it in that.

But if not, a normal pencil is fine.

So seven seconds past, 34 seconds past and 58 seconds past.

See if you can do that very efficiently as well.

Pause the video and have a go.

See you soon.

Welcome back.

How did you get on with that? Well, how many seconds are there in one minute? It's the big fact of the day.

60 seconds.

If you can remember that at the end of this lesson and you can still remember it tomorrow, you've been successful.

Number two, how many seconds have gone past on each clock? So the first one, 15 seconds.

B is 18 seconds and C is 49 seconds.

For the next one, A is seven seconds past, B is 34 seconds past and C is 58 seconds past.

And that was very close to 60 seconds past.

That's what I did.

I started at 60 and took two off.

I think you're ready for the next cycle.

You're doing incredibly well.

The next cycle is timing events and actions using seconds.

Some events and actions can take a number of days.

They can take ages and ages.

Some can take hours.

Some can take minutes.

But some events and actions are very quick and can take a number of seconds.

So let's have a look at some examples.

Tying your shoelaces.

You wouldn't measure that in days or hours or even minutes, I don't think.

It should take a number of seconds.

Should be quite quick.

Reciting the alphabet.

You could say the alphabet from A to Z in a number of seconds.

I don't think you'd need to time that in minutes.

Walking up a set of stairs.

How about that? You could count that in seconds.

Blowing up a balloon.

You could count that in seconds.

Aisha is using a clock to time how long it takes Jun to run across a playground at Oak Academy.

Now, Jun's doing an estimate first.

He says, "I estimate that it will take me 20 seconds." Hmm.

Seems reasonable.

They are waiting until the second hand is on the 12.

So in other words, it's a new minute, and then they're gonna start counting from there.

Go! And then Jun runs, and eventually he gets here, to the end of the playground.

And have a look at the time in seconds that have passed when he does.

Aisha says, "That was just over 10 seconds." Yes, it was.

It was 10 and a bit.

Look, it was 13 seconds, specifically.

Well done, Jun.

So they used the second hand on the clock to time him running.

Jun's run time was quicker than his estimate.

Now Aisha is timing Sofia.

Again, they are waiting until the second hand is on the 12.

And this time, she's going to estimate.

"Jun took 13 seconds.

I estimate it will take me 15 seconds." So that's a sensible estimate based on what she knows is a reasonable time.

Aisha says, "Go!" And she runs.

And Aisha says, "That was just over 15 seconds." Can you see that on the clock? It's 15 and a bit, and the bit is one more second, making that 16 seconds.

So well done, Sofia.

Good run.

Sofia's time was a little slower than her estimate, but close.

It was a good estimate.

Aisha says, "Hmm.

The trouble is we have to wait until it's the start of a new minute to time something.

There must be a better way." I agree.

Jun says, "Couldn't we just count in seconds?" Let's practise now.

And this is what happens.

So in the time it takes Aisha to go one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, it's taken Jun to go one, two, three.

They're not counting at the same speed as each other.

Aisha's counting really quickly.

Jun's counting really slowly.

There is a problem, isn't there? There needs to be a tiny pause in between each number.

Some people say Mississippi, have you heard of this before, after each number so that they're counting approximately in seconds.

So it would go one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi.

So it just slows you down a little bit.

Mississippi is quite a mouthful.

It's a place in America, by the way.

You're probably not too familiar with that.

But what I think you are familiar with is elephants.

And that takes a little while to say.

That's got a few syllables.

So instead of saying Mississippi, you could say elephants.

You could go, "One elephant, two elephant, three elephants," and that slows you down, too.

Then you're counting a bit more like seconds.

So think elephants.

Here we go, and look, one elephant, two elephants, three elephants, four elephants, five elephants.

They're counting at the same time in a speed that's quite close to seconds.

That worked.

As well as timing how long something takes, the elephant method of counting can also be used to count for a specific amount of time.

You're going to close your eyes.

In your head or very quietly, you will count using one elephant, two elephants, three elephants, okay? So no looking at a clock, no cheating.

When you've counted to one minute, open your eyes and stand up.

Hmm, can you remember how many seconds there are in a minute? Hope you can.

"One minute is 60 seconds," says Jun.

That's a reminder.

I'm not going to do that, but your teacher or your teacher will pause the video and do this.

And I wonder who in your class will be closest? Off you go.

Who was closest? Were you quite close to 60 seconds, to a real 60 seconds? Well done if you were.

Aisha's using this method, the elephant method, we could call it, to see how far Jun and Sofia can run in 10 seconds.

"Go," she says.

And then she goes, "One elephant, two elephants, three elephants, four elephants, five elephants, six elephants, seven elephants, eight elephants, nine elephants, 10 elephants.

Stop!" And that's where they got to.

Sofia ran a little further than Jun in 10 seconds.

Two stem sentences can be used when counting and measuring in seconds.

How long does it take to mm? So in this case, how long does it take to cross a playground, for example? Or how long does it take to throw three beanbags into a target? How long does it take to run around the edge of the school field? How long does it take to skip 30 times? And the other sentence is this, how many mm or how far can you mm in mm seconds? And that was a bit like when they were timing 10 seconds and seeing how far they could run.

So let's look at some examples of that.

It could be how many skips of a rope could you do in 20 seconds? How many beanbags can you throw into a hoop in 30 seconds? How far around the school field can you run in 60 seconds? Can you come up with your own examples that fit those stem sentences? Let's do a check.

Explain to your partner why the elephants method of counting seconds can be useful.

Pause the video.

Well, you might have said something like this: "It stops you counting the seconds too quickly." That's one answer.

"It makes the seconds more like actual seconds," you might have said.

"It's useful for counting in seconds when you don't have a clock or timer," that kind of thing.

Time for some independent practise.

Number one, use a clock.

Hopefully you've got one in front of you, maybe in the classroom.

Wait until the second hand is on 12 to time how long each of these actions takes.

Remember to estimate first.

There is space to write your own actions in as well.

So you're going to be looking at how long it takes to put on your shoes, recite the alphabet, recite a nursery rhyme, something like "Humpty Dumpty," maybe, and say the name of everyone in your class.

And number two, now this is the first option.

This is an athletics option.

I'm going to give you a non-athletics option as well.

Using the one elephant, two elephants, three elephants method of counting, time how long it takes your partner to, A, run from one end of the playground to the other.

B, jump into and out of a hoop 30 times.

C, do 20 skips using a rope.

And number three, use the same method to count for 10 seconds.

How far can your partner go by hopping on one leg in 10 seconds? And number four, use the following stem sentences to create and measure your own activities.

The first one, how long does it take to mm? And then the second one, how many mm or how far can you mm in mm seconds? Now, remember for all of these to make an estimate each time.

That's the athletics option.

Got another one for you, though, if you can't do that.

Same thing, use that strategy, the elephant strategy.

But the activities are write your name 10 times, write out the alphabet, put your coat on and button or zip it up, then take it off.

Number three, use the same method to count for 10 seconds.

What letter of the alphabet will you reach when writing the letters? And number four, use the stem sentences as before to create and measure your own activities.

So two different options there.

Either way, have fun, and I'll see you soon.

Welcome back.

Did you have fun there? I bet you did.

So some feedback.

Now, of course, this will depend on what your times were, but this is just an example.

So putting on shoes, you might have estimated 20 seconds, but it was 27 seconds.

Reciting the alphabet.

You might have estimated 25 seconds, but it was 18.

You were quicker.

And reciting a nursery rhyme.

You might have estimated 15 seconds, but it was 31.

Took much longer than you thought.

Say the name of everyone in your class.

You might have estimated 50 seconds, but it was longer than that, 64 seconds.

And then you might have chosen the athletics option, running from one end of the playground to the other.

So, for example, you may have estimated your partner would take 25 seconds to run across the playground, and you counted using that one elephant, two elephant strategy, and it was actually 18 seconds.

And then jumping into and out of a hoop 30 times.

Same thing, you might have estimated 40 seconds to jump in and out of a hoop 30 times.

But you counted using the one elephant, two elephant strategy, and it was 49 seconds, for example.

And for C, do 20 skips using a rope.

So, for example, you may have estimated your partner would take 55 seconds to do 20 skips of a rope, but you counted using one elephant and two elephants, and it took them 37 seconds, for example.

Now, alternatively, you might have done your writing your name challenge.

So, for example, you may have estimated your partner would take 25 seconds to write their full name 10 times.

You counted using one elephant, two elephants, and it took them 18 seconds.

Writing out the alphabet.

You may have estimated your partner would take 30 seconds to write out the alphabet, but you counted using one elephant, two elephants, and it took them 40 seconds, for example.

And put your coat on and button or zip it up and take it off.

For example, you may have estimated your partner would take 15 seconds, but you counted using one elephant, two elephants, and it actually took them 25 seconds, just for example.

We've come to the end of the lesson.

Today's lesson's been estimating, measuring and comparing the timings of events and tasks.

And our key fact, our big fact for today, there are 60 seconds in a minute.

So a second is a very short amount of time.

Activities and events that are short or quick can be measured in seconds.

There's a special hand on a clock showing how many seconds have gone past after each new minute.

And sometimes it's red, it's always long and thin, as the one you can see.

Seconds can be measured in different ways, for example, using a clock, or informal counting methods, such as one elephant, two elephants, three elephants.

Well, I hope you've had fun today.

I think that's been a very good, fun lesson.

Hope you've learned lots.

And remember, there are 60 seconds in one minute.

That's our big fact for today.

It has been a great pleasure working with you, and I really do hope that I get the chance to work with you again in the near future on a different maths lesson.

Maybe about time, maybe about something else.

But in the meantime, take care, and goodbye.