If there is one thing my math students know by the end of the year, it is the properties of math. While they may not always be able to apply a property, they certainly do what they are all called and the meaning of each.
Why? Because I make a point of pointing out examples in our daily math work. Honestly, I think most of my kids are tired of the word ‘commutative’ by the end of the year. That is because every time we get ready to add or multiply multiple numbers, I make a point of mentioning that we can add or multiply these numbers in any order we choose because of the commutative property of addition or multiplication.
Before long the students are beating me to the punch and making the same comment before I even have the chance, lol!
To help keep the properties in the forefront of everyone’s mind, including mine, I have colorful posters on the wall of my classroom. For this coming year I have changed the color scheme of my classroom to the popular black, white and red combination.
When printing the posters, I made sure to enlarge the page to 125% and then spliced the two pages together. To learn how to enlarge a page and print on your printer, be sure to read my blog post on the topic.
I think my new Properties of Math posters ROCK! (Other colors are available.)
In addition to the posters, my students also have a “Properties of Math Fold-Up” Resource in their Interactive Math Journals.
