We continued working with simplifying expressions, today working more with the distributive property. We started with the problem x(-2-0.5y) and the goal was to simplify. We reviewed the distributive property in how the x is to be multiplied to every term on the inside of the parenthesis (we pretended the x was a fire hose spraying all the inside terms). Aiden asked great questions to clarify: do we multiply the x to the -0.5 AND the y or just once? I explained the answer is just once, since when we multiply the x to the term -0.5y, that the -0.5 and y are already being multiplied. So we would result in -0.5xy. Next we tried a problem in two different ways. -1/3(2-3x+3). First I had Aiden distribute the -1/3 to all terms and then simplify. Then I had Aiden combine like terms in the parenthesis first, and then distribute the -1/3. He got the same result both ways. We decided we liked the 2nd approach better, since it followed the order of operations.