It’s been a roller-coaster week. The beginning of the week was really rough but encouragement from friends helped me recharge a bit.
Some good progress to report today. Nearly all my Algebra 1 students were successfully applying the distributive property after a short lesson today. (Lesson involved cut out pictures of food stuck to the whiteboard with magnets.)
After a few examples like this, I asked students to work in groups and then come to the board to write out the answers to some problems involving the distributive property. Either they already knew about the distributive property, or the food analogy helped.
One week left before Winter Break.
Adventures in Teaching 
Nice one D! Oh and also, your algebra 1 students are now operating at a 2nd year QUT level!
[…] Stupid Aptitude Test Distributive Property July 11, 2010 I just read a really cool idea on teaching the distributive property that I will suggest to S: Combo […]
I so just totally stole this.
My last example: 7 KFC family meals!
[…] Distributive property « Adventures in Teaching […]
This is excellent! I am teaching my Pre Algebra students this concept and several of my students are not getting it. This is brilliant. What student wouldnt get it using something they can relate to. “Food!”
[…] saw this idea on Sarah’s Math = Love blog. She actually got the idea from Adventures in Teaching. So the idea is to teach the distributive property using combo meals. I created this activity […]
Thanks for posting this! I’m writing a lesson plan in multiplying polynomials and incorporating this activity. I think using something they are familiar with will make the lesson more relatable and relevant!
LOVE this!! Thanks!
[…] Looking online for ideas, I found the idea of teaching the distributive property using combo meals. […]