Take three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Most will say they are equal — hold out for why without confirming yet. Leave both sums on the board; the balance beam in the next step is how the class settles it.

Commutative, 4 × 7 vs 7 × 4 — pause before the second pan, take a level-or-tip prediction. Order swaps, both pans hold 28. Name the property, point to it.

Associative, (2 + 3) + 5 vs 2 + (3 + 5) — nominate a pupil to name it before you reveal. Brackets move, total holds at 10.

Distributive, 4 × 6 = 4 × 5 + 4 × 1 — the load-bearing one. Say four sixes is the same as four fives and four ones as the split shows; both pans hold 24. Draw out why each part is multiplied then added.

8 − 3 vs 3 − 8 — the surprise. Ask what happens swapping a subtraction: you cannot take 8 from 3, right pan holds nothing, beam tips. So order does not always keep things equal.

Talk this one through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

Run explore mode on the single beam, resetting it for each round: set both pans to 15/15 for the first, 7/7 for the second, then 24/24 for the distributive one. Take a predicted level-or-tipped before each. The distributive round (4 × (5 + 1) = 4 × 5 + 4 × 1 = 24) is worth lingering on — say it aloud as four sixes is the same as four fives and four ones. Watch for pupils who think the brackets change the answer.

This is the practice round — pupils take turns at the board, build the empty pan, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

The rounds build from a plain order-swap to using the distributive split to make a hard fact easier. On the last two, ask the class to say the split aloud (6 × 7 is 6 × 5 and 6 × 2) before checking — that is the trick they will lean on for tricky tables. Press Check on each so the class sees the beam level and the ✓.