Durations of Time

"Freddie, look at the calendar, do you know what today is?" "Um... Friday, the fifteenth of October?" "Yes, AND it's the day we are going to York for our friend's birthday party!" "I totally forgot! You packed the bags, didn't you?" "Uh oh... I thought that YOU packed the bags." "What are we going to do? We need to clean, and pack, and I have no idea how long that will take." Freddie and Zuri need to prepare for their trip. They need to find out the 'Duration of Time' it will take them. What are durations of time? A duration of time is how long an activity takes from beginning to end. Today we will explore durations of time using a number line. Zuri and Freddie need to clean before they start packing. They started cleaning at eleven o' clock in the morning, and finished at half past one in the afternoon. How long did it take for them to clean? We can use a number line to work this out. Begin by putting the start time, eleven o' clock, on the LEFT side of the number line. Next we can put our end time on the RIGHT side of the number line. Then we can count forwards to get to half past one, our end time. When counting with time, start with the largest unit of time to count forwards with. We can start by counting the hours, from eleven to twelve and from twelve to one. One more hour would put us past the end time, so we can continue by counting with minutes. We can count in tens, count with me! Ten, twenty, thirty, then we stop because we've reached our end time, half past one. Now we can add up the time that we counted. First, add the hours that we counted. How many hours did we count here? We counted forwards two hours. Next, add the minutes that we counted, how many minutes did we count here? We counted forwards thirty minutes, or half an hour. If we add those together we will find the duration of time taken. That means the duration of time it took for Zuri and Freddie to clean was two hours and thirty minutes or two and a half hours. After cleaning Freddie and Zuri are tired, but, they still need to pack. Zuri and Freddie started packing at one thirty, or half past one, and finished at four forty-five, or quarter to five. How much time did it take from when they started packing to when they finished? We can work out how long it took them with our number line again. Remember, first we put the start time on the LEFT side of the number line. Which means we will put our end time on the RIGHT side of the number line. Next we can count forwards to get to the end time. We can start by counting the hours, two-thirty, three-thirty, four-thirty. We will go past our end time if we add another hour, so let's count in five minute intervals now. four-thirty five, four-forty, four-forty five. Let's add these together to find the duration of time it has taken. We counted three hours and fifteen minutes, so Zuri and Freddie took three hours and fifteen minutes, or three and a quarter hours, to pack. Zuri and Freddie are almost ready to go, but first they need to get their van ready! There are a few different things they need to do. If Zuri and Freddie start preparing their van at four forty-five and finish at six thirty, what is the duration of time it has taken them?

It will take Zuri and Freddie one hour and forty-five minutes, or one and three quarter hours, to prepare the van. And they are off! Zuri and Freddie have finally begun to travel to the birthday party. They left at six forty-five and finally landed at eight twenty, how long did it take?

The duration of time it took Zuri and Freddie to get to their destination is one hour and thirty-five minutes. "Phew, we're finally here! I can't wait to see everyone!" "Uh, Zuri? I have some bad news..." "I think we went to the wrong York..."