Oh That Commutative Property!

If you teach third grade you know that the Commutative Property is a HUGE deal!  We have done two lessons on it, made anchor charts, and talked about it a lot.  My kids totally understand it, but they never seem to reference it when they explain something in a math task that uses the Commutative Property.  They write the balanced equation that shows they know how it works, but very few of them use the words Commutative Property when they explain their answers.

We had a few minutes yesterday and I decided to make a quick foldable.  All we did was define what the Commutative Property is on one side and wrote five examples on the other.  BAM!  We did a task today and 16 kids used those words I have been waiting to read... this equation shows the COMMUTATIVE PROPERTY because....

Isn't it funny how something so simple sticks with them?

                                        Here is my proud picture of five minutes well spent.

Have a great day tomorrow!  Happy Friday!