One night, Little J hears the nocturnal Barking Owl and becomes fascinated by how the owl stays awake at night. In the morning, he is woken by the carolling of magpies and on the way to school, he is swooped by Maggie, the magpie. Miss Chen teaches the class about nocturnal animals.

Explain - Compare and order duration of events using everyday language of time

Theme - TIME

Revisit the themes and topics of Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 13 ‘Night Owl and Morning Maggie’, such as nocturnal and diurnal animals, and their behaviours to protect their young.

Ask students to use a clock to suggest the times of the day and night when the following actions from episode 13 take place:

1. Little J and Big Cuz arrive home from school.
2. Old Dog lies on his couch to go to sleep.
3. Nanna tells Little J to go to sleep and the Barking Owl wakes Old Dog.
4. Little J wakes to the sound of the Barking Owl and starts his drawing.
5. Little J eventually goes to sleep.
6. Breakfast in the morning.
7. Leaving for school.
8. Little J and Big Cuz come across the magpie nest.
9. The kids at school sing together.
10. Miss Chen is talking about micro bats.
11. Lunch time at school.
12. Walking home from school.
13. Popping popcorn.
14. B-Boy returns home.
15. Nanna puts Little J to bed.
16. Next morning when the family wakes up
17. Nanna’s and Little J’s morning walk

Have students explain their understanding of the terms ‘a.m.’ and ‘p.m.’. Explain that the 24-hour day is divided into two halves of 12 hours. The first 12-hour period is a.m. for ‘ante meridiem’, which means ‘before midday’, and p.m. for ‘post meridiem’, which means ‘after midday’.

Have students draw two clocks, and colour one yellow for a.m. and one purple or dark blue for p.m.

Ask students to think about their usual routine over a 24-hour period. Have them develop a table where they list their actions and the times, using ‘a.m.’ and ‘p.m.’. Challenge students to keep a record of their schedule over the period of a week, and then to estimate and calculate how much time they spent in a week on different activities, such as:

• sleep
• school
• playing outside
• using technology
• watching TV or videos
• participating in sport and/or games.

These activities could be presented to students as pictures or graphics rather than words and sentences. Have students reflect on how they could change their schedule to do more things that they like to do and that will improve their wellbeing.

Suggested resource:

• Learn How to Tell Time on a Clock