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How long is 15 minutes? The children discuss what they do in that time, such as walk to school, or play. There are links with one-minute activities, showing how these can relate to 15-minute tasks. For example, I can make 10 snowballs in one minute, so I can make 150 in 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes is counted on the clock by counting the little lines, and this is related to quarter of the clock face and how this is half of a half. Sabrina explores how to show quarter past on the clock. We see the clock as she times Tempo while he performs short excerpts from his performance in his quest for 15 minutes of fame, from 11 o’clock to quarter past 11.

This could be used to explore the concept of a quarter. Find a quarter of different items by finding half of a half. Children could be asked to find the quarters of different shapes by folding. Count the number of a quarter of 60 beans by sharing the beans onto four plates. Ask the students to find a quarter of a clock face by folding a cardboard clock face. Count how many little lines there are on the clock when the minute hand has moved quarter of the way round. Children can investigate what they can do in 15 minutes: can they run round the playground or read a page of a book? What else can they do?