Solve problems involving the four

operations, and identify and

explain patterns in arithmetic
Title 3.OA.9
Subject Mathematics
Author Sapphire Johnston
Grade level 3rd
Time duration 45 min (not including 5 min prep time; subsequent times given after each direction)
Outcomes beyond State Besides demonstrating understanding of state standard content, students will work as a
Standards team, learn how to verbalize problem solving strategies, explain mathematical reasoning,
and understand how to identify arithmetic patterns in everyday life.
State Standards 3.OA.9 Identify arithmetic patterns (including patterns in the addition table or
multiplication table), and explain them using properties of operations. For example,
observe that 4 times a number is always even, and explain why 4 times a number can be
decomposed into two equal addends.
Materials Scratch paper for solving word problems
Essential Questions 1. How do you solve identify arithmetic patterns in everyday life?
2. How do you use properties of operations to explain these patterns?
3. Why is it important to be able to identify arithmetic patterns and explain these
using properties of operations?
Understanding 1. Students will understand
a. Arithmetic patterns
b. Properties of operations as they relate to arithmetic patterns
c. Order of operations
Knowledge 1. Students will know
a. Arithmetic patterns
b. Properties of operations as they relate to arithmetic patterns
c. Order of operations
Skills 1. Students will be able to
 a. Identify arithmetic patterns (including patterns in the addition table or
multiplication table)
b. Explain arithmetic patterns using properties of operations
Learning Activities 1. Before class begins (5 min, not included in total)
a. Divide class into groups of four
b. One worksheet per group (set on tables)
c. Write nametags for each member of each group (set on tables in
groups)
d. Develop worksheets with word problems called tasks
i. Task One: Addition Patterns
ii. Task Two: Symmetry of the Addition Table
iii. Task Three: Making a Ten
iv. Task Four: Patterns in the Multiplication Table
2. Class time
a. Students sit in assigned groups (1 min)
b. Explain to students that they will complete four short tasks (2 min)
i. First Task:
1. Describe the first task (2 min)
a. Below is an addition table showing sums of 1
through 5.

b. In each column and row of the table, even

and odd numbers alternate. Explain why.
c. Explain why the diagonal, top left to bottom
right, contains the even numbers 2 through
10.
d. Explain why all numbers in the other
diagonal, from bottom left to top right, are
6's. ("Addition Patterns," 2017)
c. Ask the students to solve the word problem in groups illustrating the
mental steps they will take as they solve it using the scratch paper (6
min)
d. Teacher checks in with groups to make sure they understand that they
are identifying arithmetic patterns and explaining using properties of
operations to solve the task (time included in previous 6 min)

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 e. Explain one possible way of illustrating the solution (4 min):
The following picture visually shows the alternating even and odd numbers in the
columns and rows.
As we more to the right one box, we are adding one more to our total, sum. For
example,

(2+3)+1=2+(3+1)=2+4
shows what happens when you move one box to the right from the entry for 2+3 (note
that this is an example of the associative property of addition). (Addition Patterns,
2017) Adding one to an even number gives us an odd number;

while adding one to an odd number gives us an even number.

This explains the alternating pattern that you see.

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 The diagonal with the first five even whole numbers is colored in blue below:
(Addition Problems, 2017)

These numbers are even because when you double the sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; you get the
sequence 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 which are all even numbers.
The numbers on the diagonal going from bottom left to top right are shaded blue in
the following picture: (Addition Problems, 2017)

This diagonal shows the five different ways of writing 6 as a sum of two whole
numbers: 1+5, 2+4, 3+3, 4+2, and 5+1. (Addition Problems, 2017) Each time
we move up one the first summand, the first quantity to be added to another, is
decreased by one while each move to the right increases the second summand, the
second quantity to be added to another, by one. We are using the associative property of
addition. For example:
1+5=1+(1+4)=(1+1)+4=2+4
The net effect is to obtain the same total of 6 when adding. ("Addition Patterns,"
2017)

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 i. Second Task:
1. Describe the second task (3 min)
Below is a table showing how to add numbers from 1 to 3: (Making a Ten, 2017)

After cutting out the table, fold it over the dotted line. You will notice that the same
color squares match up and have the same numbers in them. These squares are called
mirror images of each other.
The table below shows how to add numbers from 1 to 9. Two squares are shaded blue
and two are green:

Are the blue squares mirror images of each other? Explain why the numbers in the blue
squares are equal.
Are the green squares mirror images of each other? Explain why the numbers in the
green squares are equal. (Making a Ten, 2017)
After shading the rest of the mirror image squares the same color, ask yourself why the
mirror image numbers are always equal. ("Making a Ten," 2017)
f. Ask the students to solve the word problem in groups illustrating the
mental steps they will take as they solve it using the scratch paper (6
min)

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 g. Teacher checks in with groups to make sure they understand that they
are identifying arithmetic patterns and explaining using properties of
operations to solve the task (time included in previous 6 min)
h. Explain one possible way of illustrating the solution (4 min):
The two blue squares are mirror images of one another. One of them is two squares
below the yellow 4 and the other is two squares to the right of the yellow 4: when the
table is folded along the diagonal containing the yellow 4, the two blue squares match
up.
The two blue squares contain the sums 5+2 and 2+5. These are both equal to seven.
They are the same because the same two numbers are being added: only the order is
different. The commutative property of addition says that the sum does not depend on
the order of the two numbers.
The two green squares are mirror images of one another. One of them is four squares
below the yellow 8 and the other is four squares to the right of the yellow 8: when the
table is folded along the diagonal containing the yellow 8, the two green squares match
up.
The two green squares contain the sums 8+4 and 4+8. These are both equal to twelve.
They are the same because the same two numbers are being added: only the order is
different. The commutative property of addition says that the sum does not depend on
the order of the two numbers.
The table below has been shaded with mirror image squares being the same color.
Squares next to the diagonal yellow squares are shaded orange, those two squares
removed from the diagonal yellow squares are shaded red, and so on. (Making a Ten,
2017)

Mirror image squares have the same numbers because they demonstrate the
commutative property of addition, the sum of two numbers is the same regardless of the
order in which you add them. For example, the lower green diagonal of squares has the
sums 5+1, 6+2, 7+3, 8+4, and 9+5 while the upper green diagonal has the same sums in

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reverse order: 1+5, 2+6, 3+7, 4+8, and 5+9. Since the order of the addends does not
influence the sum, it is sufficient to know one of these diagonals and this then
determines the other. So the commutative property of addition cuts the amount of facts
that need to be memorized almost in half. ("Making a Ten," 2017)
i. Third Task:
1. Describe the third task (3 min):
Below is a table showing all the ways to add the numbers from 1 to 9.
Each sum which is larger than 10 can be found by first making a 10. For example, to
find 8 + 5, we can write
8+5=8+(2+3)=(8+2)+3=10+3=13.
Explain why this reasoning works and apply this method to find 7 + 8. How can you
visualize these equations using the table?
Adding 9 to another single digit number can also be done by first making a 10. For
example
3+9=3+(101)=(3+10)1=131=12.
Explain why this reasoning works and apply this method to find 7+9. How can you
visualize these equations using the table? ("Patterns in the Multiplication," 2017)

i. Ask the students to solve the word problem in groups illustrating the
mental steps they will take as they solve it using the scratch paper (6
min)
j. Teacher checks in with groups to make sure they understand that they
are identifying arithmetic patterns and explaining using properties of
operations to solve the task (time included in previous 6 min)
k. Explain one possible way of illustrating the solution (4 min):
The first equation comes from writing 5 as 2+3. The reason for this is that in the next
step we will group the 2 together with the 8 to make a 10. This second step uses the
associative property of addition. In the third step, we add 10 + 3 to find the answer of
13.

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In terms of the addition table, we can visualize adding 5 to 8 by starting at the 8 in the
column of addends and moving over 5 spaces to the right. Notice that after two steps,
we reach 10. Then three more steps puts us at 13. This is shown in the picture below:

Applying this method to calculate 7+8 we find

7+8=7+(3+5)=(7+3)+5=10+5=15.
This method is similar to the making a ten method in part (b). In this case, however, a
ten is made by rewriting 9 as 10 - 1. Then the 3 and 10 are grouped together first before
performing the subtraction in the final step. This is shown in the picture below:

Applying this method to find 7+9 gives

7+9=7+(101)=(7+10)1=171=16. ("Patterns in the Multiplication,"
2017)
i. Fourth Task:
1. Describe the fourth task (3 min):
The table shows products of the whole numbers 1 through 6.

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Color all of the even products in the table.
Sometimes there are even numbers next to each other in the table. However, there are
never odd numbers next to each other. Why is this true?
Imagine the same kind of table that shows all the ways of multiplying two numbers
between 1 and 9. Would this still be true? ("Symmetry of the Addition," 2017)
l. Ask the students to solve the word problem in groups illustrating the
mental steps they will take as they solve it using the scratch paper (6
min)
m. Teacher checks in with groups to make sure they understand that they
are identifying arithmetic patterns and explaining using properties of
operations to solve the task (time included in previous 6 min)
n. Explain one possible way of illustrating the solution (4 min):
Below the even numbers in the table have been shaded blue:

For smaller numbers such as 2,4,6,8 students will know from experience that these
numbers are even. For a larger number such as 24=46, a good way to visualize why
this is an even number would be to view the number 6 as made up of 3 pairs: then
multiplying by 4 means that we take 4 groups of 6:

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 and so 4 groups of 3 pairs. This is an even number since it is 43 pairs.
Similar reasoning will work in other cases. For a product such as 65, we could first
use the commutative property of multiplication to give 65=56 and then use the
same reasoning we used to see why 46 is even.
If we look, for example, at the second column, this contains the numbers
12,22,,62: these are all even numbers because we can visualize these as one
pair, two pair, , six pairs. Similarly, in the 4th row we have 41,42,,46. Using
the commutative property of multiplication, this is the same as 14,24,,64.
Since 4 can be divided evenly into two pair, all of these numbers can be divided evenly
into pairs and so they are all even. So even numbered rows and columns contain only
even numbers.
We know from above that even numbered rows and even numbered columns contain
only even numbers. We also know that every other column/row is even numbered
because the even numbers are found counting by 2's which skips one whole number
each time. Adjacent columns cannot contain odd numbers because one of the columns
is an even column (which contains only even numbers) and one is an odd column. For
the same reason, adjacent rows cannot contain odd numbers.
The reasoning in part (b) applies no matter how far the multiplication table is extended.
This is the case because the reasoning depends only on whether the numbers considered
are even or odd. The 9 by 9 table is pictured below.

Debrief

("Symmetry of the Addition," 2017)

o. Debrief in pairs aloud (teacher asks question, each student in the pair
shares their answer) with questions below (5 min)
i. These are sample questions that may provide for a sufficient debrief,
not all of them need to be discussed.

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 ii. Make sure this discussion is only 5 min long as you need time for
exit cards.
Sample questions: What did you enjoy about this lesson and why? What would you
change and why? Can you share a situation in everyday life where you might you use
these methods?
Exit Cards What is your main takeaway from this lesson? (2 min)
End of class period
Sources Cited Addition patterns. (2017). Retrieved October 22, 2017, from Illustrative Mathematics
website: https://www.illustrativemathematics.org/content-
standards/3/OA/D/9/tasks/953
Making a ten. (2017). Retrieved October 22, 2017, from Illustrative Mathematics
website: https://www.illustrativemathematics.org/content-
standards/3/OA/D/9/tasks/955
Patterns in the multiplication table. (2017). Retrieved October 22, 2017, from Illustrative
Mathematics website: https://www.illustrativemathematics.org/content-
standards/3/OA/D/9/tasks/956
Symmetry of the addition table. (2017). Retrieved October 22, 2017, from Illustrative
Mathematics website: https://www.illustrativemathematics.org/content-
standards/3/OA/D/9/tasks/954

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