minutes · moons · months
One
Past
the
Month
Look at the clock. The long hand took one tiny step past the twelve. One minute has gone by! Now look up at the moon. When the moon finishes one slow trip around, a whole month has gone by. That is what past means: it went, and it does not come back.
👆 That clock is showing the real time, this second.
First: what does past mean?
The bird starts on the twelve. Hop, hop, hop — now it is PAST.
Past means gone by.
On a clock, the long hand starts at the twelve at the top. Every little step past it is one more minute gone. One step = one minute. Two steps = two minutes.
“One past four” = 4 o’clock plus one minute gone → 4:01
Push the long hand
Drag the long hand round — or press +1 minute — and count the steps past the twelve with me.
Months go round too
A month is one slow trip of the moon.
Twelve of them make a wheel — just like the numbers on a clock. Press the button and the little moon marker takes one step. That is one past the month.
months gone past: 0
Tap a month to jump to it. Press the button to let one month go past.
The moon counts the days
Pull the slider and count the days of the month. The moon gets fatter and fatter, then thinner and thinner, until it hides — and the trick starts again.
29½ days = 1 month.
So “one past the month” means the moon finished a whole round trip… and we are one day into the next one. 🌒
You are six. That is a LOT of moons.
Every month, the moon makes one whole trip. So every year, you get twelve more moons. Pick a number and count them with me!
and about 2,192 days!
You are 6 years old. The moon has gone round 72 times since you were born. Not bad for such a slow moon.
Can you say it?
Four little puzzles. Count the steps past the twelve, then tap the words that match. 👇
You can count minutes past the twelve and you know where the months go. Excellent work.