This Week in Math: The Distributive Property!

Our students have been working so hard in math to strengthen their multiplication and division strategies! We are starting to move away from picture models and move toward numeric strategies! This week, we really focused on the Distributive Property and we got to explore and practice it using marshmallows and string! 

The Distributive Property is where the student will solve the problem by breaking up 1 of the factors (either 6 or 8) into two smaller numbers that when added together, equal that factor (example: break 6 up into 3 and 3; break 8 up into 5 and 3). 

Here are some pictures of the ways your students broke up the number sentence: 6 x 8.

 Broke up the 6 into a 3 and 3

New number sentence: (3 x 8) + (3 x 8)

Broke up the 8 into a 5 and 3

New number sentence: (6 x 5) + (6 x 3)

Broke up the 8 into a 2 and 6

New number sentence: (6 x 2) + (6 x 6)

Broke up the 8 into a 1 and 7

New number sentence: (6 x 1) + (6 x 7)

**Have your student solve this number sentence using the Distributive Property: 4 x 7! Ask them to draw an array to represent the number sentence, break up the array and tell you what number they are breaking up, write the new number sentence to represent the 2 new arrays and then solve! Have your child bring in the paper they solved this problem on with your signature and they will get a prize for all of their hard work :) 

Thank you for your continued support!