iLEAD Exploration 2nd grade learner Rocco Boyd knew exactly when he wanted his perfect day to begin: 11:00 AM. The unusually late start to his ideal day came as no surprise to his mom, who disclosed that Rocco really, really loves sleeping in. Rocco joined 24 other 2nd and 3rd grade learners, including iLEAD 3rd grader Gracia Villasenor, in Time of Your Life, a weeklong virtual project-based learning class run by iLEAD Exploration’s Learner University in the fall.

The setup for the project was simple: the producers of a new show The Time of Your Life were seeking responsible, creative children who could carefully schedule an entire day of fun activities for their very own special day. The child with the most impressive, fun-filled plan would get to star in an episode of the show and actually do every activity they planned!

Before the contestants in the class, like Gracia and Rocco, began devising their plans, they reviewed AM/PM in time telling and explored the concept of duration and elapsed time using videos and songs. They also practiced the 2nd and 3rd grade standards related to time. Some learners had to confront the reality of how long certain activities would actually take to complete. For instance, one learner wanted to pop by Disneyland for an hour but, while discussing it with the group, learned that it would likely take at least that long—and probably longer—just to park and walk to the entrance gate.

The learners enjoyed this five-day class and came up with a dizzying array of activities to do on their special days. Gracia wanted to conquer an obstacle course and make a ton of slime, while Rocco planned plenty of time for meals and conversations as well as for playing with LEGO and sleeping. Overall the kids enjoyed imagining their perfect days and learning the skills needed to make it all fit into one day.

iLEAD Exploration families, this project would make a super fun independent study project because it can span various ages and would be especially great to culminate in an actual plan for a special day—or even a birthday.

Standards:

• Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes, using AM and PM (2nd grade).
• Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals in minutes; e.g., by representing the problem on a number line diagram (3rd grade).

Elapsed Time BrainPOP
Elapsed Time Song
Telling Time Math Project from TPT