Every year I spend too long reviewing basic algorithms. This year I’m going to jump in feet first and begin by doing partial products to develop both the multiplication algorithm, and then the division algorithm. I know the majority of my students know the multiplication algorithm but only a handful of them can explain why it works.
Last year I spent some time doing partial products with base ten blocks and students really seemed to expand their knowledge of these basic algorithms. I found a great activity to expand on what I did here.
Once students understand this activity they can then begin to draw generalized rectangle models to lead into the distributive property.
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