Distributive Property Investigation - Bracelets

The Distributive Property - Discovering & Understanding How Distributing Actually Works:

This activity is an investigation of the Distributive Property. This is a great introduction for the first time seeing the property. You can have students work through this set of worksheets before they have been exposed to the Distributive Property. It also can be a great review for students who are revisiting the property. They will get a deeper look and gain more understanding of how the Distributive Property really works.

The activity is based on making bracelets. Students develop expressions for the cost of each bracelet order and rewrite it different ways using the distributive property before they are even aware that they are using any property. The Distributive Property is named and introduced on the fourth page and is followed up with practice.

A color version and black and white version are included. Students can work individually or in pairs. Encourage them to re-read and attempt to work through the guided investigation on their own. Resist the temptation to give hints. Your class will develop their own understanding of the Distributive Property through the guided inquiry-style questioning.

The activity is five pages long. Take a look at the preview images for more detail.

Reviews from other Math Teachers:

- I thought this inquiry activity was really thorough, clear and scaffolded well. This inquiry can be done a bit more independently than some of the other inquiries (which are still fantastic too!) It pairs really well with the Distributive doodle notes.

- This activity helped provide context for the distributive property. My classes were engaged and made connections to prior learning.

- I love your products. My students loved this inquiry activity and it helped them to understand Distributive Property.

- Wonderful activity! This makes the distributive property understandable. Students enjoyed it.

- This is an awesome activity for students! It really helped them stay engaged (and LEARN) on a topic that has historically been difficult to teach.

- This product really made distributive property 'click' for my students that were struggling with the concept.

- My students have a difficult time with distributive property. This was a great activity that helped give them a clearer understanding.

- I love the way this promoted student thinking and discussion! Fabulous resource!

- Fantastic investigation that helps students really understand distributive property using real-life examples.

- It helps students understand distributive property conceptually.

- I love having new ways to review a concept that also lead to students finally "getting it"! Thanks for your creativity!

- This resource gave a great visual and example to how the distributive property works. Thanks!

- My students really enjoyed this activity. The real-world context supports the engagement and makes the underlying math concepts more understandable.