Working with Date and Time

by Jessica Wesaquate and Andrea Rogers

Grade Level:

Four

Strand:

Shape and Space

Goals:

Number sense, mathematical attitude, logical thinking

Objectives:

Students will be able to state the number of hours in day
Students will be able to explain the meaning of AM and PM and provide an example of an activity that occurs in the AM, and another that occurs in the P.M.
Students will be able to write dates in a variety of formats.
Students will be able to identify possible interpretations of a date.

Before completing this lesson, have students watch video 2, "Mathematics and Journalism" on Cassandra Opikokew, graduate from the University of Regina’s School of Journalism.  She serves as a great Aboriginal role model for students.  In both the video and the lesson, students will see the connection of mathematics to real life.

As a journalist, it is important you get your facts straight!  You are currently working for a local newspaper and your boss has asked you to go to the Aboriginal pavilion at Mosaic in Regina to check out what is going on.  You are responsible for getting some figures for an article that will be published the following day.

1. First off, your boss has given you ONE complete day to submit your article.  How many hours do you have to complete the article?

2. You called the coordinator of the pavilion and they have asked for you to come in the A.M. to take watch what goes into the preparation for the weekend.  What part of the day would she like you to come?  Give an example of a time in the A.M. that you might arrive.

3. What part of the day are you going to the pavilion if it is 7:00 P.M.?  What meal of the day do you think will be getting served?

4. The article will be published on June 4, 2009 and when you submit your report online, it needs to be written in the following format: yyyy/mm/dd.  Record what this will look like using your pencil and paper.

5. Now that the article has been published in the paper, you notice that the date was written as 04/06/2009.  What format was it written in?

* Note for Teachers:

Integrating familiar materials and situations will intrigue your students to learning the required curricular material.

Teaching Opportunity:

Aboriginal people view time differently than European Canadians. Things like watching the clock, and finishing things in a certain time frame are not Aboriginal practices. There are many Indian languages that don't even have a word for "time."

"The Indian tells me, time is with us. Life should be easy going, with little pressure. Things should be done when they need to be done. Exactness of time is of little importance. When an activity should be done is better determined by when the thing that precedes it is completed or when circumstances are right than by what the clock says."

Hankes, Judith Elaine & Fast, Gerald R. Investigating the Correspondence between Native American Pedagogy and Constructivist-Based Instruction.

Aboriginal Perspectives is supported by the University of Regina, the Imperial Oil Foundation, the Canadian Mathematical Society and the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.