The purpose of this activity is for students to match drawings, tape diagrams, and situations to multiplication expressions (MP2). Students build on their understanding of how the structure of drawings, tape diagrams, and multiplication situations show equal groups and connect this to the structure of a multiplication expression (MP7). This will be helpful later in the lesson when students create drawings or diagrams to match expressions and write expressions that represent drawings, diagrams, and situations.

• Have students standing near each expression share how they know their card matches the expression.
• Consider asking:
  • “Where do you see each number in the expression on your card?”

The purpose of this activity is for students to demonstrate a conceptual understanding of multiplication expressions by creating drawings of equal groups or tape diagrams that match expressions. Drawings of equal groups and tape diagrams are familiar representations to students from previous lessons and using them now supports students as they make sense of multiplication expressions.

Three expressions are given. Consider providing support to students for the first expression and then allowing them to try the second and third expressions on their own. To keep things simple and allow ideas about commutativity to develop over time, display student responses using the convention of groups as the first factor and the size of the groups as the second factor. The Activity Synthesis focuses on analyzing the second expression, .

If there is time, and you want to include more movement, students can share their own expressions and matching diagrams in a Gallery Walk.

• For the expression , display 2 different representations side by side (one drawing of equal groups and one tape diagram). 
• “How are they the same? How are they different?”
• If time, consider asking: 
  • “How would the diagram change if the expression was ?” (There would be 5 parts instead of 3.)
  • “How would the diagram change if the expression was ?” (Each part would be labeled 5 instead of 4.)

The purpose of this activity is for students to write expressions to represent drawings of equal groups, tape diagrams, and multiplication situations. As students work, continually ask how each number in the expression represents part of the drawing, diagram, or situation.

If students finish early, ask them to find something in the room they can represent with a multiplication expression. Have them record what they represented and their expression.

• “How could you describe the equal groups in this drawing/diagram/situation?”
• “How could you turn your statement into a multiplication expression?”

• Share responses.
• “Why does each of the representations show multiplication?” (They all show groups where there is the same number of things in each group.)