So students took notes and they found patterns in equations and describe the rules.
For example, I put the following equations:
1+0=1
0.54+0=0.54
34+0=34
I asked them to find what rule these equations were describing and asked them to find an example of when the rule wouldn't work.
I wanted students to see that they already knew most of these properties, they just didn't now the names.
After they took notes, we did a card sort. Each group got a bag with the names of the properties we discussed and equations to match to the property.
I love card sorts in math and I loved hearing the conversations they had as they disagreed and tried to convince each other. I also loved seeing them refer to their notebooks because my students see to forget that it is there.
If groups finished early, I gave them a dry erase marker and had them write their own equations to show the different properties. I think I will do this part more later. For the few groups that got to it, it was a great way to see if they understood what each property said.
