LEVELED

LEVELLEDREADER
BOOK •• KA
It’s About Time
A Reading A–Z Level K Levelled Book
Word Count: 410

Written by Mara Rockliff

BRITISH ENGLISH

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 Photo Credits:
Front cover, back cover, title page, pages 3, 7 (left, top right), 11 (left, center
right, right), 12 (main), 13 (main, inset), 14 (center left, center, center right,
top right, bottom left, inset): © Jupiterimages Corporation; page 4: © Michelle
Bennett/Lonely Planet Images; pages 5, 6: © Learning A–Z; pages 7 (bottom
right), 14 (top left, top right, center right): © ArtToday; page 8: © David R. Frazier
Photolibrary, Inc./Science Photo Library/Photo Researchers, Inc.; pages 9,
11 (center left), 12 (inset), 14 (bottom right), 15: Craig Frederick/© Learning A–Z

It’s About Time

Written by Mara Rockliff Level K Levelled Book Correlation
© Learning A–Z LEVEL K
Written by Mara Rockliff
Fountas & Pinnell J
All rights reserved. Reading Recovery 17
www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com DRA 18
 Table of Contents
Knowing What Time It Is . . . . . . . 4

Using the Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Using Fire and Water . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Clocks of Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
These clocks show the time in cities all over the world.

Make Your Own Water Clock . . 15

Knowing What Time It Is
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Do you know what time it is?
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 If you do, you probably are looking
at a clock or watch.
It’s About Time • Level K 3 4
 Using the Sun morning

Long ago, people didn’t have

clocks or watches like you do.
When the sun rose, they got up,
noon
and when the sun went down, they
went to bed. They told the time by
the position of the sun in the sky.

SUN evening

morning sun

Shadow clocks made it easier to tell the time between sunrise,

noon and sundown.
SUN

People discovered that they could

noon sun use a stick and the sun to tell the
time. This was called a shadow
SUN clock. They put a stick in the ground,
pointing straight up. The direction of
evening sun the stick’s shadow and how long or
The sun tells when it is morning, noon and evening. short it was told them the time.
It’s About Time • Level K 5 6
A better kind of shadow clock was Using Fire and Water
called a sundial. Sundials had a
One kind of clock that didn’t need
pointer and a base. The pointer
the sun was a water clock. A water
cast a shadow on marks around
clock was a
the base. People could tell the time
container with
by reading the marks.
a tiny hole in
But shadow clocks were not good the bottom.
for telling the time on cloudy Water would
days—or at night. steadily drip
out of the
hole. Marks on
the inside of
the container
showed the
time. It took
one hour
for the water
to go down
one mark.
Sundials made telling the time using shadows more accurate. A modern water clock

It’s About Time • Level K 7 8

 Sometimes people used
candle clocks as alarm
clocks. They put a nail
in the candle at the time
they wanted to wake up,
hanging a shoe on the
nail. When the candle
melted down, the
nail fell out and the
shoe hit the floor
with a
BANG!

Candle clocks were used to tell time after the sun went down.

Another kind of clock that didn’t

need the sun was a candle clock.
You would know the time by how
much of the candle had melted.
The candle had marks down its
side to show the hours.
It’s About Time • Level K 9 10
 A digital clock

grandfather digital pocket analogue

clock watch watch watch
Big Ben, an analogue clock tower in London, England

Clocks of Today
Many clocks have two hands that
Now there are all kinds of point to numbers in a circle on the
timepieces, from tall grandfather clock face. These are called analogue
clocks to watches we wear on clocks. Other clocks don’t have
our wrists. Most clocks run on hands, only numbers. These are
electricity from batteries. called digital clocks.
It’s About Time • Level K 11 12
At noon, a cuckoo clock cuckoos 12 times.

Inside one kind of analogue clock is

a carved bird called a cuckoo. There are many more types of
Every hour, the door opens and the clocks too. Clocks hang in and on
bird pops out and sings its song: buildings. Clocks adorn wrists and
cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo! mantles. Clocks are everywhere!
It’s About Time • Level K 13 14
 Glossary
T h is Make a Water Clock

Tr y You will need: analogue (adj.) using hands and dials to show
• a partner • a clock with the time on a clock (p. 12)
• a large plastic bottle a second hand candle burning candle marked with
with the top cut off • a pin or tack, clock (n.) the hours (p. 9)
• two paper cups masking tape
and water cuckoo (n.) carved bird used in a cuckoo
1 S tick a piece of masking tape along the outside clock (p. 13)
of the bottle, from top to bottom. digital (adj.) using a row of numbers, rather
2 Poke a small hole with a pin or tack in the than hands on a dial (p. 12)
bottom centre of one cup. Fit the cup snugly
into the top
electricity (n.) power source for clocks
of the bottle. and watches (p. 11)
3 Have your grandfather tall, fancy clocks that chime
partner use the clocks (n.) with the time (p. 11)
other cup to
pour water into
shadow clock that uses an object’s
the cup with the clock (n.) shadow to tell the time (p. 6)
hole while you sundial (n.) more complex shadow clock that
start timing right uses the sun to tell the time (p. 7)
away. Keep the
water clock’s water clock (n.) bowl that drips water to
cup about tell the time (p. 8)
halfway full.
4 Every 30 Index
seconds, mark alarm clock,  10 hands,  12
the water level batteries,  11 shadow,  6, 7
on the tape. Big Ben,  12 sun,  5, 6
candle,  9, 10 water,  8, 15

It’s About Time • Level K 15 16