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Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

Peabody's books timer

A free animated classroom timer: Peabody reading down a tower of books, and the last book is finished at zero. Any length, counting down or up, with the clock a small chip in the corner.

15:00

Keys: Space start or pause · R reset · ← → 30 seconds · 1 8 the presets · S next scene · U count up or down · C move or hide the clock · M sound · H hear the sound · F full screen

How to use it

  1. Press Start, or Space. The picture is the time: Peabody reading down a tower of books, and the last book is finished at zero.
  2. It opens at 15 minutes. Press a preset, or Custom to type a length such as 7:30; press U to count up to the time instead of down to zero.
  3. Press F to fill the screen, C to move or hide the clock chip, M for the sound and H to hear it first.

Ideas for class

  • Use it for independent reading: eight books for the stretch, one for each eighth of it.
  • Put it on the board during a read-aloud so the class can see how much is left without asking.
  • Ask a child to say which book Peabody is on: the open one is on his knee.
  • Run it counting up while the tower builds, for a class collecting reading minutes.
  • Use it at the end of the day, with the sound on: a page turn is a quiet way to finish.

Related

Questions

Who is Peabody?

The character the children's side of this site is built round. On this timer he is simply the one doing the reading: he works down the tower, and every book he finishes goes on the pile beside him.

Can I use it for a reading record?

It counts the time, not the child: nothing is saved, scored or sent anywhere, here or on any other page in this family. Use the stopwatch and the fluency page if you want words-correct-per-minute.

Will the peabody's books timer keep the right time if I switch tabs?

Yes. The timer compares the clock when you pressed Start with the clock now, so a sleeping tab, a slow laptop or a dropped frame cannot make it drift, and the picture is drawn from the time rather than from its own speed.

Is it really free, and does it need an account?

Free, no account, no ads, and nothing about your class leaves the computer: the length, the picture and the direction live in the address after the # so you can bookmark or share them, and that part is never sent to us.

Nothing you do here is sent to us. Names, lists and settings stay in this browser. No sign-in, no ads.