This lesson talks through some of the verbal tricks I give the students to remember the associative, distributive, commutative, identity and zero properties. Students need to be able to identify and fill in values for each of the properties. I have posted practice problems and an answer key for this skill. There are no word problems.

Helpful Reminders:

Zero Property: Think: "Zero is the Hero!" This property will always equal zero on one side.

Example:          13 x 0 = 0          1 x 0 = 0          0 = 0 x 154

Identity Property: Think: "I know who I am so I stay the same." Students should know that "I" is only one, so only one number should stay the same and keep its "identity".

Example:          7 + 0 = 7    (7 only stays the same)          15 x 1 = 15    (15 only stays the same)

Commutative Property: Think: "Like a Mirror (and that commutative has an "M" and so does Mirror) because it's the same thing on both sides only flipped."

Example:          21 x 3 = 3 x 21          56 + 9 + 4 = 4 + 9 + 56          3 + 4 = 4 + 3

Associative Property: Think: "The only thing that is different is the "associations" or parenthesis." Everything (numbers and symbols will be exactly the same on both sides of the equals sign, but the parenthesis will be moved.

Example:          ( 6 + 4 ) + 5 = 6 + ( 4 + 5 )          7 x ( 2 x 8 ) = ( 7 x 2 ) x 8

Distributive Property: Think: "I am distributing (or passing out) a number." Students should also notice that the distributive property will have one set of parenthesis on one side of the equals sign and two sets of parenthesis on the other.

Example:          3 (4 + 5 ) = ( 3 x 4 ) + ( 3 x 5 )   * Passed out the three to the other numbers

Students should know that they need to solve the problem in the parenthesis first and then balance out both sides to make sure the properties work.