Share the Road

Scene

Description

Narration

1

A busy street scene with cars driving in both directions. We pan along the road from left to right.

When you drive to and from work the same way every day, it’s called a “commute.” One way to make a commute a little easier is to take turns driving. Just remember that no matter who drives first or who drives second, you always end up at the same place.

2

Cartoon character numbers, 4 and 6, are behind the wheel of a car. We switch to a scene of a red car on a road, with a number line on the bottom. The equation 4 + 6 = 10 appears above. The 4 character goes into the car and drives four spaces along the number line. Then the 6 character gets in the car and drives six more spaces along the number line, arriving at 10.

These two friends, 4 and 6, have a commute that’s 10 miles long. Sometimes, 4 drives first, then 6 takes a turn. 4 + 6 = 10.

3

The car goes back to the start, and the equation changes to 6 + 4 = 10. The 6 character goes into the car and drives six spaces along the number line. Then the 4 character gets in the car and drives four more spaces along the number line, arriving at 10.

Other times, 6 drives first, then 4 drives next. 6 + 4 is also 10!

5

We see the commuting scene from the intro again, with the words “commutative property of addition” written in the sky.

This is called the “commutative property of addition.” When you add numbers together, the order doesn’t matter. You will always get the same answer.

6

We switch to a scene of a red car on a road, with a number line on the bottom. The equation 3 + 2 + 5 = 10 appears above. The 3 character goes into the car and drives three spaces along the number line. Then the 2 character gets in the car and drives two more spaces along the number line. Last, the 5 character gets in the car and drives five spaces, arriving at 10.

Let’s look at the friends 3, 2, and 5. Their commute is also 10 miles long. It doesn’t matter if 3 drives first, 2 drives next, and 5 drives the rest of the way, they still make 10.

7

The equation 5 + 3 + 2 = 10 appears above. The 5 character goes into the car and drives five spaces along the number line. Then the 3 character gets in the car and drives three more spaces along the number line. Last, the 2 character gets in the car and drives two spaces, arriving at 10.

If 5 drives first, 3 drives next, and 2 drives last, the answer is still the same. 10!

8

The three numbers, 5, 3, and 2 are in the red car.

The commutative property of addition tells us that any numbers added together will always arrive at the same answer, no matter which order they travel in.