These properties of multiplication worksheets give your 3rd grade class ten detective cases for practicing the distributive property, the commutative property and the associative property as real multiplication strategies. Every page is print and go math worksheets with a mystery to solve, so the CSI Mini Mystery Detective cases slot straight into your multiplication unit as a math center, morning work or an early finisher activity, and each one is self-marking.
Once your third graders know their first few times tables, this is the pack that shows them how to reach the rest. They break 8 × 7 into two facts they already know, regroup three numbers to find a friendly ten and turn a fact around to make it easier, and the bake-off cases keep them going right to the last suspect. There is no marking for you, because the one name left standing tells everyone whether the page is right.
The Cases
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The Toppled Wedding Cake – a showstopper crashes before judging
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The Stolen Cherries – a sticky trail across the bench
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The Melting Icing – someone switched off the fridge
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The Missing Slice – crumbs lead out the back door
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The Swapped Pie – a mud pie on the winners' table
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The Leaning Layer Cake – a tower that will not stand
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The Snuffed Candles – a birthday party left in the dark
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The Heart Topper Heist – prize decorations vanish before photos
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The Salty Sponge – salt hidden in the sugar jar
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The Wobbly Pillars – a cake stand made of jelly
What's Inside
- 10 case worksheets, each with 20 problems written on one line and 21 suspects
- Six kinds of problem on every page: break apart a fact, find the missing part, put the parts back together, multiply three numbers, group two factors and turn-around facts
- A properties of multiplication reference page with a worked example for each strategy
- 10 answer keys showing every answer and the villain
- A detective's case log and a Bake-Off Detective certificate
- Teacher instructions and a contents page
When to Use This Resource
The properties of operations are where third graders stop counting on and start thinking about how numbers fit together, and this pack gives them plenty of practice at exactly that point. Use it right after you introduce the distributive property, then keep coming back to it as the facts to 10 × 10 build up, because every page mixes all three properties. It works just as well as a quick check before a test, since a page shows you straight away who can split a fact and who still needs another example. Teachers use these cases as math centers, morning work, homework, sub plans, small group practice and early finisher activities, and some save a case or two for back to school review in 4th grade.
How a Case Works
Students read the case file, solve the 20 problems and write each answer in the box. Every answer matches the ID badge of one suspect, so they cross that suspect off. When the page is finished, only one suspect is left, and that is the villain.
Grade Levels
Written for 3rd grade (CCSS 3.OA.B.5, apply properties of operations as strategies to multiply), with facts up to 10 × 10. It also makes strong review for 4th grade before multi-digit multiplication.
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