During our second unit on multiplication and division, where we delve in deeper and explore the properties, one of my FAVORITE lessons I've done for the past two years is my "Macaroni Multiplication" lesson.
We kick the lesson off with a silly song about pasta (link in the lesson plan here) and then students are divided up into 4 groups. Two groups work on solving and writing distributive word problems, one works with just associative, and a challenge group uses associative and distributive properties to solve word problems that involve 4-digit numbers.
While I consider this a challenge and extension lesson for all of my students, I place my strugglers in the associative group, my "on-grade levels" in the distributive group, and my high fliers in the mixed group.
Each group is named after a different type of pasta and has to use sauce and pasta food labels to solve word problems and to write their own. Each student completes a finished project using elbow macaroni in place of the (round brackets).
While many students complained the project made them hungry--even though it was right after lunch on penne pasta day!!!!!--they loved it and begged to listen to the pasta song again at the end.
Get your students in on the fun by clicking here!!
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