Problem
Compare hours first, then minutes
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).
Measurement & data
Your answer
Watch out Don't just read the minutes — 9:00 has the smallest minutes but the latest hour, so compare the hour first.
How to solve
Strategy Draw a Diagram — 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.
1STEP 1
Read each clock
From the clock faces: Liam 8:43, Mia 9:00, Noah 8:28.
Liam 8{:}43, Mia 9{:}00, Noah 8{:}28
Reading the hour and minute hands on an analog clock is a core second-grade time skill.
2.MD.C.7Draw A Diagram2STEP 2
Compare the hours
Liam and Noah are in the 8 o'clock hour, Mia at 9 — since 8 is before 9, the earliest is Liam or Noah.
8 ＜ 9
An earlier hour always means an earlier time, no matter the minutes.
2.MD.C.7Make A Systematic ListBecause 8 o'clock is earlier than 9 o'clock, Mia at 9:00 cannot be the earliest arrival, so the first student is Liam or Noah.
Why?
A student in the 8 o'clock hour arrived before a student in the 9 o'clock hour, no matter how many minutes each clock shows.
Why?
The hour names the bigger part of the time and the minutes name the smaller part, so a difference in the hour settles who is earlier before the minutes are even looked at.
Why?
The 8 o'clock hour holds exactly 60 minutes, so once those minutes are used up the clock turns to 9:00 and every 8-something time has already gone by.
🧱A bigger unit is a fixed count of smaller unitsA bigger unit always equals the same fixed number of smaller units (1 hour = 60 minutes, 1 km = 1000 m), so a measure can be renamed between them.
3STEP 3
Compare the minutes within hour 8
Liam is at 8:43 and Noah at 8:28 — since 28 is earlier than 43, Noah arrived first.
28 ＜ 43
When the hour is the same, the smaller minute number is the earlier time.
2.MD.C.7Make A Systematic ListAnswer
Noah (8:28)
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.
Takeaway
Compare the hour first, then the minutes if hours tie: that's all Grade 2 clock-reading!
- Read each clock
- Compare the hours
- Compare the minutes within hour 8
Where next?
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