Tick-Tick-Tick - Reading a Clock

The clock face is a circular dial numbered 1 to 12. It has three hands: the short 'Hour Hand' shows the hour, the long 'Minute Hand' shows the minutes, and the thin, fast-moving 'Second Hand' shows the seconds.

The space between any two numbers on the clock represents 5 minutes. To find the total minutes, multiply the number the long hand points to by 5. For example, if the minute hand points to 8, the time is $8 \times 5 = 40$ minutes past the hour.

A day is split into two halves: AM and PM. AM (Ante Meridiem) covers the time from 12:00 midnight until 12:00 noon. PM (Post Meridiem) covers the time from 12:00 noon until 12:00 midnight.

Visualizing the clock as a pie helps with fractions of time. When the minute hand is at 3, it is 'Quarter Past' (15 minutes); at 6, it is 'Half Past' (30 minutes); and at 9, it is 'Quarter To' the next hour (45 minutes past the current hour).

The 24-hour clock, often used in railways, continues counting past 12 noon. Instead of 1:00 PM, it shows 13:00. To convert a 12-hour PM time to 24-hour format, add 12 to the hour value. For example, 4:00 PM becomes $4 + 12 = 16:00$ hours.

To calculate the duration of an activity, find the difference between the end time and the start time. You can do this by counting the hours and minutes passed on the clock face from the start position to the end position.

The calendar is a way to track long durations. Remember that a year has 12 months, and a leap year occurs every 4 years when February has 29 days instead of 28. A common year has $365$ days, while a leap year has $366$ days.