How Many Seconds in a Minute? Lyrics
Six questions and six rhyming answers that teach the units of time: seconds in a minute, minutes in an hour, hours in a day, days in a week, weeks in a month and months in a year. It is from Christina Rossetti's 1872 nursery rhyme book. Five of the answers are exact, and one is a rounded figure.
How Many Seconds in a Minute?
How many seconds in a minute?
Sixty, and no more in it.
How many minutes in an hour?
Sixty for sun and shower.
How many hours in a day?
Twenty-four for work and play.
How many days in a week?
Seven both to hear and speak.
How many weeks in a month?
Four, as the swift moon runn'th.
How many months in a year?
Twelve the almanack makes clear.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/how-many-seconds-in-a-minute/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Christina Rossetti
- Tune
- A steady question-and-answer chant, one pair of lines at a time
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
What Does How Many Seconds in a Minute? Mean?
The poem asks and answers in turn. Here are the sums. There are sixty seconds in a minute and sixty minutes in an hour. There are twenty-four hours in a day and seven days in a week. A year has twelve months, which "the almanack makes clear". An almanack is an old-fashioned word for a yearly calendar book that lists the days and months.
The fifth answer is an old rounded figure. The poem says a month has "four" weeks, "as the swift moon runn'th". Four weeks is 28 days, and real months run 28 to 31 days. The moon takes about 29 and a half days to go from one new moon to the next, which is why the word "month" is linked with the moon, so four is a good round answer and not an exact one. It is a kind way to teach: the poem prefers a simple number a child can remember.
The answers also hold small pictures: minutes counted "for sun and shower", hours "for work and play", days "both to hear and speak". A child can multiply them: 60 times 60 is 3,600 seconds in an hour, and 3,600 times 24 is 86,400 seconds in a day.
History and Origin
Christina Rossetti (1830 to 1894) was an English poet, best known for Goblin Market (1862). Her nursery rhyme book Sing-Song followed in 1872. The book was still being printed in 1893. Unlike the folk rhymes on this site, every poem in it has a known author.
Teaching time by rhyme is an old classroom habit, and children memorize this one without effort. The poem's last answer names the almanack, which is the sort of yearly book a family would have looked at to see the months.
Learning Activities
- Clock chant: say the questions while a grown-up holds a clock face, and let the children call out the answers.
- Stretch the sums: work out the seconds in an hour (3,600) and in a day (86,400) with a calculator.
- Calendar hunt: look at a wall calendar and count the weeks in one month. Is it exactly four?
- Draw the year: draw twelve boxes, one for each month, and decorate each with a picture of that season.