We just finished a video on the Commutative Property of Multiplication for 3rd grade and you will LOVE it! In math there are many rules and it is almost like learning English in some ways. Some rules you just have to remember but do not apply to all situations. This is where things can get confusing for 3rd graders because in third grade many concepts are introduced and if you miss one you may miss the next ones that come up. Let me explain.
The commutative property of multiplication says that you can change the order of the numbers and that will not affect the result or product. This is true but only applies to multiplication and not division. This is why we teach younger kids that addition and multiplication are similar and subtraction and division are similar. You cannot change around numbers in subtraction or division but in multiplication and addition you can.
Now here is where the hard part can come in. Children also learn in math around this same year about parenthesis and how you do that first. This is where it can be hard because if you have 3 * (2+2) = then you can see that you cannot switch things around so it has limits. I will not go into detail but for now I want you all to understand that children to start out need to learn about commutative property of multiplication and understand this. Having an understanding of multiplication and being able to switch numbers helps them immensely in later grades and math such as algebra.
I hope you enjoy the video we have so check it out on our 3rd grade page of videos and keep on learning!
