Find Area - Distributive Property

Videos to help Grade 3 students learn how to apply the distributive property as a strategy to find the total area of a large rectangle by adding two products.

Common Core Standards: 3.MD.5, 3.MD.6, 3.MD.7a, 3.MD.7b, 3.MD.7d

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Lesson Plans and Worksheets for Grade 3

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More Lessons for Grade 3

Common Core For Grade 3

New York State Common Core Math Module 4, Grade 3, Lesson 10

Application Problem

Sonya folds a 6 by 6 square inch piece of paper into 4 equal parts, shown below. What is the area of 1 of the parts?

Note: This problem reviews the concept of finding area.

Concept Development

We can break apart a 18 by 9 rectangle into two 9 by 9 rectangles. What other ways could we break apart this rectangle?

We could break it into one 10 by 9 rectangle and one 8 by 9 rectangle.

Lesson 10 Homework

1. Label the side lengths of the shaded and unshaded rectangles. Then find the total area of the large rectangle by adding the areas of the 2 smaller rectangles.

2. Finn imagines 1 more row of nine to find the total area of 9 × 9 rectangle. Explain how this could help him solve 9 × 9.

Lesson 10 Homework

3. Shade to break the 16 × 4 rectangle into 2 smaller rectangles. Then find the sum of the areas of the 2 smaller rectangles to find the total area. Explain your thinking.