2. The Distributive Property of Multiplication
• The distributive property lets you multiply a sum by multiplying each
addend separately and then add the products.
• Sounds confusing, huh? Let’s see if Dominic can help.
• Also think of words like equal,array, product, and sum.
3. Dominic waits
patiently for his
sister’s soccer
game to begin.
But he soon gets bored and wants
to eat candy…
4. So his daddy gets him a bag of
Swedish Fish. Dominic sits down on
his beach towel, because he wants
to make sure none get dirty. (his
mommy won’t let him eat it if it’s
dirty)
He rips open the package and
dumps them on the towel. But
there’s no way to figure out how
many he has.
5. Dominic loves to be able to count everything he
eats, so his daddy tells him to start putting them into
equal rows.
Turn to a partner. How would his rows look
if they were equal?
In your journal, draw a model of what it
could look like if you had 10 fish that you need in
equal rows.
6. Dominic starts putting them into
rows to make an array. Soon he has
3 rows of 6. (3x6)
But that was too hard to figure out
so he cried.
3 rows of 6 =
3x6
7. • After taking a couple deep
breathes, he decided to take the
array of Swedish Fish and make
it into 2 groups (but he still
wouldn’t eat any. He needed to
know how much before eating.)
• So now he had
(3x3) + (3x3)
8. Now Dominic could figure it out!
He figured out the left side (3 x3)= 9 and the right
side (3 x3)=9.
Now he can add 9 + 9 = 18.
3x3
3x3
9. Dominic figured out how many fish he
had, so he ate them all! Without
sharing with his mommy!
10. Dominic didn’t change the amount of fish he
had. He just changed how he found his
answer.
1. He made equal rows into an array.
2. He made a split where it would be easier
to solve the problem.
3. He multiplied both parts, but separately.
4. He added the products together to find
the answer to the original problem.
3 rows of 6
3x6
3x3
Product
Sum
9
3x3
+
18
9
11. Dominic solved a hard multiplication problem
without knowing he was using the Distributive
Property of Multiplication.
But now you do! How did making it into smaller
amounts help Dominic solve the problem?
12. Now with your partner, create a model array
to solve 4 x 8. Discuss how you could use
the Distributive Property to solve. Draw a
line to show were you would split it. Then
answer it the same way as Dominic.
Did you create an array of equal rows?
Did you separate it into two groups?
Did you find the product of each side? Then add the two
products together?
13. • Corestandards.org
•
CCSS.Math.Content.3.OA.A.1 Interpret products of whole numbers,
e.g., interpret 5 × 7 as the total number of objects in 5 groups of 7
objects each. For example, describe a context in which a total number
of objects can be expressed as 5 × 7
•
CCSS.Math.Content.3.OA.B.5 Apply properties of operations as
strategies to multiply and divide
•
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1a Come to discussions prepared, having
read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation
and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under
discussion
•
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1c Ask questions to check understanding of
information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the
remarks of others
