THE BUZZING CLOCK
I was in my sleep mode, counting electric sheep.
But then, the alarm clock buzzed, “Buzz! Buzz!”. I yelled, “Not now!”. I would like to keep sleeping.
The sun was just rising, and the birds were chirping happily, but I just wanted a few more minutes of sleep.
But the alarm buzzed more! “Buzz buzz! Buzz buzz!” I groaned and pulled the covers over my head. I called out, frustrated, “Eli, help! This thing won’t stop!”
Eli rushed into the room, wings flapping. She said, “Riri! Have you tried pressing the stop button?”
I peeked out from under the covers. I said, “No! I forgot how it works.” With an embarrassed look, I handed Eli the clock.
I asked, “Why do we need that clock anyway? It buzzes and wakes me up.”
Eli smiled and replied, “That’s the exact reason why we need it, Riri! Otherwise, you would sleep until the afternoon.”
I sat up and said, “Oh! But how do you know it’s afternoon?”
Eli pointed to the numbers on the clock and said, “Look, Riri, it says here.”
I looked back at Eli with a confused face and said, “Where, Eli? These are just numbers.”
Eli asked, “Riri, do you know how to read the clock?”.
I blinked in confusion, shaking my head, “I don’t know.” The alarm clock buzzed again, making me jump.
Eli smiled again and said, “Don’t worry, Riri, I will teach you! Let’s start with the basics. A clock tells us the time in seconds, minutes, and hours. See the small hand? It tells the hour. The big hand tells the minutes, and the thin, fast hand tells the seconds.”
The alarm clock buzzed again and again, but now Eli pressed the button and stopped it from buzzing.
Eli continued, “There are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, and about 4 weeks in a month. Months make up a year. It’s like a big puzzle!”. I listened carefully as Eli explained each part.
She continued, “Seconds are very fast, like the time it takes to blink your eyes. Minutes are longer, like when you brush your teeth. Hours are even longer, like when you spend a whole morning at school.”
We practiced reading the clock together, and soon I could tell the time. Eli made it fun by drawing a big clock on a piece of paper and moving the hands around. She asked, “What time is it now, Riri?”
“It’s 3 o’clock!” I answered proudly. We laughed and played more clock games. Eli even set up a schedule for the day: “8 o’clock – breakfast; 10 o’clock – playtime; 12 o’clock – lunch; 3 o’clock – drawing time.”
I felt happy. “Knowing the time helps us organize our day.”
Eli nodded, “Yes, Riri! Knowing time helps us wake up, go to school, play, and sleep on time.” I set the alarm clock for the next day, ready to wake up and start my day right.
