A day goes in order: morning, lunchtime, afternoon, then night time. We wake up and eat breakfast in the morning, eat lunch at lunchtime, get picked up from school in the afternoon, and go to bed at night time. A week has 7 days, always in the same order: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Monday to Friday are school days; Saturday and Sunday are the weekend. After Sunday the week goes round to Monday again. Yesterday is the day before today and tomorrow is the day after. To find the day in 3 days, put your finger on today and jump 3 times: today does not count.
Explore this idea with maths tools
Move the hands
3:00
The short hand moves between hour numbers as the minutes pass. One full turn of the long hand is sixty minutes.
Words to know
- yesterday
- the day before today
- tomorrow
- the day after today
- weekend
- Saturday and Sunday, the days with no school
- lunchtime
- the middle of the day, when we eat lunch
Worked examples
When do you usually eat breakfast: morning, lunchtime, afternoon or night time?
- 1.Breakfast is the first meal of the day, soon after we wake up.
- 2.The start of the day is the morning.
= morning
What day comes after Sunday?
- 1.Say the days in order: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
- 2.Sunday is the end of the list, so the week starts again.
= Monday
Today is Wednesday. What day was it yesterday?
- 1.Yesterday is the day before today.
- 2.The day before Wednesday is Tuesday.
= Tuesday
Today is Friday. What day will it be in 3 days?
- 1.Put your finger on Friday. Today does not count.
- 2.Jump 3 days: Saturday is 1, Sunday is 2, then round to Monday, which is 3.
= Monday
Mia will eat dinner, wake up, eat lunch and get picked up from school today. What does Mia do third?
- 1.Match each to its part of the day: wake up (morning), eat lunch (lunchtime), get picked up from school (afternoon), eat dinner (night time).
- 2.In order: wake up, eat lunch, get picked up from school, eat dinner. The third one is get picked up from school.
= get picked up from school
For parents
Method: Say the order, then step along it
What to say: Each morning ask: 'What day was it yesterday? What day is it today? What will tomorrow be?' Point along a week strip as you say them.
Common mistakes:
- Mixes up before and after (or yesterday and tomorrow, first and last), so goes the wrong way along the week or the day.
- Counts today as the first day when counting on, so lands one day short.
- Stops at the end of the list (Sunday, or Monday going back) instead of going round to the other end of the week again.
- Counts one place too far, so says the day (or part of the day) after the right one.
- Mixes up morning and night time, because both happen at home around sleep time.
- Picks the part of the day next to the right one, such as lunchtime for something that happens in the afternoon.
- Counts only the school days, forgetting the weekend, when asked how many days are in a week.
- Counts every day of the week when the question asks only about school days or the weekend.
- Mixes up the school days and the weekend, giving the number of the other group.
- Thinks Friday is on the weekend, because it is the last school day before the weekend.
- Uses the order the things are written in the question, instead of the order they happen in the day.