Time estimations, patterns and measurement sense are important skills to develop within the mathematics classroom (Mildenhall, 2016; Thomas et al., 2017). To develop a true understanding of time, students need to holistically understand: the language of time, the notion of duration and succession, how time is measured, and the concept of time (Sullivan et al., 2023; Thomas et al., 2017). For students to thrive in the mathematics classroom, they need to be self-determined, interested and invested in their learning (Bobis et al., 2021). Students need to be engaged in and recognise the relevance of what they are learning to develop a deep, conceptual understanding of the content (Bobis et al., 2021). When students become autonomous, empowered learners who construct their own understandings of mathematical ideas, they are more likely to retain and transfer the knowledge and skills to other contexts (Du Toit & Kotze, 2009). The purpose of the current article is to put forward a rich, connected, challenging sequence of learning for upper primary school students that supports their understanding of different aspects of time as a concept. It presents a sequence of lessons that align with the Victorian Curriculum Level 6 'Using Units of Measurement' sub-strand and introduces a unit of work which uses narrative to intertwine literature and mathematics, creating a context-rich scenario for students to incorporate mathematical concepts.