Summary
This lesson focuses on the importance of understanding how to use the distributive property to correctly solve expressions. Students will use different foods that make up a meal to demonstrate use of the distributive property and in conjunction with order of operations, simplify expressions. Next, students will use dice to create, solve, and discuss randomized equations. Then, each student will create their own equation and food sharing scenario and solve classmates' equations using the distributive property.
Essential Question(s)
How do you use the distributive property to evaluate and simplify expressions?
Snapshot
Engage
Students analyze a real-world scenario involving distributing food equally to their friends.
Explore
Students use dice as a randomizer to create unique equations and better understand the distributive property.
Explain
Students discuss their own understanding with a partner to check for accuracy and clarify misconceptions.
Extend
Students create their own real-world distributive property scenario by formulating a fast-food combo meal with its own equation.
Evaluate
Students solve their peers' scenarios with a Gallery Walk.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Dinner Plates handout (attached; one per student)
Distributive Manipulation Explore Cards (attached; one per pair)
Dice Table handout (attached; one per student)
Polyhedral dice in various colors (six-, eight-, ten-, twelve-, and/or twenty-sided dice) (three dice per pair of students)
Distributive Manipulative Explore Extended cards (optional; attached)
Create a Combo Meal handout (attached; one per student)
Combo Meal Gallery Walk handout (attached; one per student)
Engage
Use the attached Lesson Slides to guide the lesson. Begin by introducing the title on slide 1. Review the Essential Question on slide 2, then move to slide 3 and read aloud the following scenario: You have invited two of your best friends over for dinner. The dinner consists of their favorite foods: pizza, strawberries, cookies, and lemonade. They are running late, so you decide to make their plates for them. Pass out the attached Dinner Plates Handout. Give students enough time to draw their explanations. Then, move to slide 4 and introduce an Elbow Partner to have students confer with each other and answer the questions on the slide:
What did you put on each friend’s plate?
How can you ensure that the food is distributed fairly?
Explore
Have students work in pairs. Pass out a copy of the attached Dice Table handout to each student, as well as the Distributive Manipulation Explore Cards. Give each pair of students three polyhedral dice—two dice of the same color and the third of a different color. The different colored die represents a negative number. Ask one student in each pair to go first. This student should begin with the first equation on the Distribution Manipulation Explore Cards (or the first strip, if the cards are halved and being solved in random order). Move to slide 5 and ask students to follow the steps on the slide:
Roll a polyhedral die. Place the resulting number in the first slot of the equation.
Roll a different polyhedral die. Place the resulting number in the second slot.
Roll the last polyhedral die. Place the resulting number in the third slot.
Ask both students in each pair to write this randomized equation down on their Dice Table handouts, under the "Student #1" column in the first row. Then, ask each pair to work together to simplify the problem. Allow enough time for each pair to finish.
Explain
Move to slide 6. Ask each pair to look at their equation and solution. Are they confident in the answer? Ask students to help one another clarify misconceptions about how the expression can be solved by asking the following questions:
How did you solve the problem?
You used a specific method. What would happen if you tried to solve it in a different way?
What do you still not understand?
Once both students have agreed that their solution is correct, ask them to switch roles and repeat the process. The second student in each pair should follow the same directions given in the Explore phase to generate a randomized equation with the pair's dice, and both students should write the new equation on their Dice Table handouts under the "Student #2" column in the first row. Each pair should then simplify their problem and evaluate their answer, clarifying misconceptions.
Repeat this process until each group member has generated four problems each, with a total of eight equations and solutions per pair.
Once the students solve eight problems each and discuss, return to the class as a whole. Move to slide 7. Ask the class to walk you through the process of applying the distributive property, step-by-step, using the processes they have formulated themselves. Consider writing the steps students suggest for you on the slide, or on a whiteboard space. Ask students to help you understand the importance of using the distributive property correctly.
Move to slide 8. Challenge students with the equation on this slide. Use their answers to check their understanding of the concept before moving forward. Clarify any misunderstandings.
Extend
Move to slide 9. Ask the students the following question: When you order fast food, is it cheaper to buy items separately, or together in a combo meal?
Let students discuss their thoughts. Then, move to slide 10. Pass out the attached Create a Combo Meal handout. Ask students to come up with a scenario for their classmates to solve, similar to the one pictured on slide 10 (and below). Then, invite students to write their own scenarios and draw a corresponding picture on the handout.
Evaluate
Move to slide 11. Before the activity, pick up students' Create a Combo Meal handouts and display them around the room. Pass out the attached Combo Meal Gallery Walk Journal handout to each student and introduce the Gallery Walk strategy. Invite students to walk around the room and try to fill their Gallery Walk Journals by solving combo meal equations created by other students. Students should do so by drawing the combo meal, creating an expression based on the picture, and then simplifying the expression. The first line in the Gallery Walk Journal provides students an example based on the Create a Combo Meal Example from above.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Elbow Partners. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/ccc07ea2d6099763c2dbc9d05b00c4b4
K20 Center. (n.d.). Gallery Walk. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f505a54d
