Compare hours first, then minutes
The clocks show the times that Liam, Mia, and Noah each arrived at school this morning. Which student arrived at school first?
The three clocks show these times:
- Liam's clock:
- Mia's clock:
- Noah's clock:
Show solution
Understand
Three students arrived at school at the times shown on their clocks: Liam 8:43, Mia 9:00, Noah 8:28. Find who arrived first (the earliest time).
- Liam's clock reads 8:43.
- Mia's clock reads 9:00.
- Noah's clock reads 8:28.
- From the figure, Liam's hour hand is just past 8 with the minute hand near the 9-mark (8:43), Mia's clock shows the hour hand on 9 and minute hand on 12 (9:00), and Noah's hour hand is past 8 with the minute hand a bit past the 5-mark (8:28).
- Which student arrived at school first (earliest clock time).
- All times are in the morning, so compare hours first, then minutes.
Plan
#1 Draw a Diagram · also uses: #2 Make a Systematic List
Read each clock face to get the time, then list the three times and compare. Compare the hour first; among the equal hours, compare the minutes to find the earliest.
Execute
Review
Ordering the three times earliest to latest gives 8:28 (Noah), 8:43 (Liam), 9:00 (Mia). Noah's 8:28 is the smallest, so Noah arriving first is correct.
Convert each time to minutes after 8:00 — Noah 28, Liam 43, Mia 60 — and pick the smallest (28), which is Noah.
Standards · min grade 2
2.MD.C.7Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to nearest five minutes — Reading the three clock faces and comparing the times to find the earliest arrival.