Lesson Plan: Distributive Property

Lesson Objective: Students will be able to identify, utilize and understand the use of the distributive property.

Lesson Opening (12)

1. This lesson draws upon numerous skills that have already been taught and tested, so the lesson begins by reminding students of the prior knowledge they will need. In order to complete the lesson, students will have to be able to compute the area of a rectangle and know the order or operations. An example of each problem will already be on the board and I will model how to find the solution and explain my thought process.

Guided Practice (23)

1. I will begin with a simple math problem written two different ways (with parenthesis and without). Students will arrive at the answer together in their table teams. (5)

1. When they are finished, we will compare answers and see that they are the same. Next they will have a similar question, but rather than answering a problem on the board, they will have to find the area of two smaller rectangles (and add them up) and one big one. (7)

1. When they get the same answer again, I will initiate a discussion on why this is so. I will then explain what the distributive property is and why it functions as it does. This explanation will involve cardboard cutouts of rectangles as well as doing problems on the board. (6)

1. Finally, I will explain how this knowledge has practical value. I will do a word problem on the board and model how this problem can be answered with the distributive property. (5)

Independent Practice (23)

1. The rest of this lesson will be done with centers. Students who grasp this concept quickly (or who have stayed after school for help and are thus ahead) will be given "teaching positions at each one of the table "schools." In order to graduate from a table, each teacher must look at a student's and initial it. Each table will test the students' skills in a slightly different manner.

1. I will hover from each of the four tables, offering instruction where necessary. This format allows me an excellent opportunity to informally assess my students, because it is often easy to tell how well a student is doing by his or her interaction with the students who are helping him.

Closing (2)

1. Before dismissal, I will remind my students one more time of the usefulness of the distributive property in everyday life.

Each student will be formally assessed by his or her ability to complete the assignment. Because the students will be helped by each other and by me, anything less than 90% on the assignment will demonstrate an insufficient grasp of the concept. The "teachers" will be assed by their ability to adequately explain the information. A few students who have difficulty in math will only be expected to complete one station.