Counting Hours

The jungle is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and it’s filled with exciting animals. It’s also where our friend Elmer the Elephant lives. Can you see him yet?

Elephants can live to be 70 years old, but Elmer is only 7. In fact, he just turned 7! For his birthday, Elmer received a new watch. Now he can keep track of time while he plays with his friends. Every day at 4 o’clock, Elmer sets off through the jungle to find and visit with his friends.

Elmer’s friend Mia the Monkey is telling jokes! Her favorite is “Why would Elmer sit on a clock? To be ON time!” Elmer shows Mia his new watch and asks her if she knows how to tell time. Mia does not know how to tell time, so Elmer shows her what he knows. Elmer explains that the long hand points to the minutes and the short hand points to the hour. Whenever the long hand is pointing to 12 and the short hand is pointing to a number, that is the time to the hour. Elmer and Mia see that the long hand is pointing to 12 and the short hand is pointing to 5. It’s 5 o’clock, and that’s no joke.

After saying goodbye to Mia, Elmer the Elephant sees his friend Fiona the Frog, and they decide to play follow the leader. Fiona is an expert jumper—and fast! After an hour, Elmer is exhausted from trying to keep up with Fiona. He needs to get a drink and take a TIME OUT. Fiona leaps to Elmer’s trunk and admires his new watch. She knows the time is 6 o’clock, because the long hand is on the 12 and the short hand is on the 6. Fiona realizes that she is out of play time and has to go home. She tells Elmer that she cannot wait for their next adventure!

Next Elmer catches sight of Francisco the Fish. Francisco has a watch too, but it’s a different kind of watch than Elmer’s. Francisco has a digital watch. Both Francisco’s watch and Elmer’s watch show that it is 7 o’clock. On Francisco's digital watch, though, there are two numbers after the 7—two zeros. Francisco explains what the zeros mean. It is exactly 7 o’clock, which means that it is 0 minutes past 7. Elmer realizes that his watch and Francisco’s show the same time, just in different ways!

Elmer the Elephant knows it’s getting late, but he takes a few minutes to share a jungle snack with Gino the Giraffe. Gino chomps on leaves as he admires Elmer’s new watch. He is an expert at telling time and points out that it is now 8 o’clock. He reminds Elmer that it’s time for both of them to head home.

Elmer is back home by 9 o’clock—just in time to get ready for bed! As he falls asleep, Elmer thinks to himself, “What a wonderful day! I have this telling time thing figured out.” Then he thinks, “Next year for my birthday I’m going to ask for a digital watch!”