Thursday, March 22, 2012

The Properties of Multiplication

One of the keys in problem solving is to understand the fundamental properties of operations. I swear, I would give anything for kids to understand that they already know that 9x3=27 because they know that 3x9=27. But,for some reason, it is a hard concept to grasp.

When I teach the Properties of Multiplication I focus just on the identity, commutative, and associative properties with my third graders, and I take one property at a time. To guide us through our learning I use a PowerPoint presentation which you can download at my TpT store. It is full of concrete examples, activities with manipulatives, real life examples, and much more.

In addition to the presentation and the activities included in it, I use several other tools in my classroom when teaching about the properties of multiplication. I have an interactive bulletin board where students can sort the properties using index cards. I also use several of the following Internet games:
Math Playground Basketball
AAA Math
CoolMath Games

At the end of the unit students create a book about the properties. To create this book the fold their papers in quarters and cut along one of the middle lines. Next they place the 2 halves together and fold them to create a book. Each page of the book is used to write and illustrate about the properties of multiplication.

Here are some of the videos that I embed into my presentation to make for a smoother lesson:



2 comments:

  1. I like the math skills which you have mentioned.I can't understand why kids hate math.It's such a interesting subject.If they have any problem in it then they can understand it with help of online tutoring.
    Pythagorean Theorem Problems

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  2. Thank you! I needed this to teach my young ones how to multiply larger numbers. I was really at a loss as to how to explain it to them. Your videos worked nicely! :D

    Multiplication strategies

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