Learning to tell the time
The “Both” mode puts the dial and the digits side by side, and the dial can show its twelve numbers. Students see the same time written two ways, and the hands really do move, second by second.
The classroom clock, digital or with hands
Not every room has a clock, and the rooms that do often have it behind the students. This one goes on the board, with the date, and offers hands — dial numbers included — for exactly when reading them is the thing being taught.
Try it right now
This is not a screenshot: it is the tool itself, the one your class will see on the board.
How it works
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Three ways to show the time
Digital to read at a glance, analog for the hands, or both together — and it is that last setting that helps students connect the two ways of writing the same time.
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Hour numbers on the dial, optional
The dial can carry its twelve numbers, like a classroom wall clock. They go on for as long as the learning lasts, and off again once the class no longer needs them.
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Four sizes, from a corner of the screen to the whole board
The clock has four size steps. It already adapts to the room it is given on the canvas; the setting decides, on top of that, whether it stays discreet beside another tool or takes the whole screen.
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The date, with the day of the week
Under the time, today’s date is written out in full. It is the kind of reference you look for ten times a day, and it saves pulling out a phone in front of the class.
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Up to three cities around the world
Paris, London, New York, Vancouver, São Paulo, Tokyo: up to three of them can be added as small clocks, next to the local time.
When it really earns its place
Time zones in geography
Three cities shown together make the question concrete: it is nine here, and over there? The difference is read rather than worked out on a map.
Framing the end of a lesson
A time everyone can see puts an end to “how long is left?”. For a precise work period, though, the timer is the one that counts down.
What it does, and what it does not
The time shown is the time of the device displaying the page. The clock fetches the time from no server: if the classroom computer is wrong, so is the clock.
The list of cities is fixed, six in all, and the display is on a twenty-four hour format. This is a classroom tool, not a world clock to configure.
The dial is read, not handled: you cannot drag the hands to set a time for students to guess. This is a classroom clock, not yet a practice tool.
Your settings — display mode, size, dial numbers and chosen cities — are kept in your browser from one session to the next. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Can the hands and the digits be shown together?
Yes, that is the “Both” mode. It is the one to pick when telling the time is the point of the lesson: the two forms answer each other, and students move between them effortlessly.
Can the dial show the hour numbers?
Yes. One option places the twelve numbers on the dial, the way a classroom wall clock does. It only appears once a dial is on screen, and it is remembered from one session to the next.
Can the clock be made bigger?
Yes, in four steps. The clock already follows the room it is given on the canvas; the setting adjusts on top of that, so it can stay discreet beside another tool or take the whole screen.
How many time zones can be added?
Three at most, chosen from six cities. The limit is deliberate: beyond that, the small clocks become too small to read from the back of the room.
Is the time shown on a twelve or twenty-four hour clock?
Twenty-four hour. It is the school convention across most of the French-speaking world the tool was first built for, and it removes any morning-or-afternoon ambiguity on a classroom screen.
Does the clock work without a connection?
Once the page has loaded, yes: it reads the device’s time and queries no server. That is also why it is only ever as right as the classroom computer’s own setting.
Pairs well with
This tool lives on the board’s canvas, next to all the others.