How Long Did It Take? Elapsed Time

About This Resource

A free Grade 4 lesson and worksheet on elapsed time: finding end times and how long events last, using clocks and an open number line, crossing the hour, and real-life time problems. Includes a timed lesson plan, worksheet, editable Word version and answer key.

Overview

Students learn to work out how much time passes between two times and what time it will be after a given number of minutes. They read analog clocks, jump along an open number line (to the next hour, then the extra minutes), solve start time, end time and duration problems about movies, buses and soccer practice, and explain their method.

Resource Details

Subject: Math
Topic: Elapsed Time
Category: Time & Money
File Type: PDF
File Size: 261.6 KB
Published: 30 Oct 2026
Downloads: 0

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Grade 4 (ages 9–10) 45 minutes Time clocks mental math number lines problem solving

Student Task

Draw an open number line on the board from 3:15 and show jumps to 4:00 and then to 4:55.
Teach the jump strategy, then do activity 1 together.
Students complete activities 2 to 5; answers are in the answer key.

Classroom Use

My school day: students write the start and end times of three subjects and work out how long each lasts.
Clock race: in pairs, students move the hands of a toy clock forward by a given number of minutes and say the new time.
TV planner: students plan an afternoon schedule that must fit into exactly two hours.

Differentiation

Support: use a toy clock and start with jumps of 15 and 30 minutes. Challenge: find start times when given the end time and the duration.

Answer Key & Assessment

Activity 1 checks reading clocks and adding time; activities 2 to 5 check durations and word problems (answer key included).

Learning Objectives

Find the end time when given a start time and an amount of elapsed time.
Find how long an event lasts using a time number line.
Solve elapsed time word problems that cross the hour.

Teacher Tips

Jump to the next o'clock first. Crossing the hour is where most mistakes happen, because there are 60 minutes in an hour, not 100.

What's Included

7-page printable PDF lesson pack: teacher lesson plan with timings, materials and differentiation
Key vocabulary list (4 words with meanings and examples)
Student worksheet (5 activities)
Editable Word version of the worksheet
Complete answer key (also as a separate PDF)