Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Pi Day

One of my favorite holidays is next week! What holiday is it you ask? No, It's not St. Partrick's Day. Monday, 3/14, is Pi day in my classroom (Pi is approximately 3.14 hence 3/14 is the day to celebrate everything Pi related!). When I was in high school my teachers always had fun activities for us on this day and I have continued the celebration with my own students (other teachers in my building have also started celebrating it too!)

So how does one celebrate Pi Day? While there are many options (just google Pi Day to find many suggestions), I start by reviewing parts of a circle. Then students get circular objects and measure there diameter and circumference to discover where Pi comes from. (Similar to a Carnegie lesson from the Geometry book). We make a scatter plot with the diameter on the x-axis and circumference on the y-axis and draw a line of best fit. Next to make it a little more Algebra related, we find the slope of our line of best fit. It usually ends up being close to 3 point something and leads to a discussion of error in measurement. I use a NCTM applet to show that if we could be 100% accurate we would always get the same number if we divide the circumference by the diameter and that we call that number Pi. I even wear I shirt that says "Math easy as Pi"(it has the symbol not the word).

Of course no Pi day celebration would be complete without eating Pi(e)! I bring in some pies and offer extra credit to the students who bring in a pie to share with the class. Two years ago I had a lot of pies left over and we donated them to a local shelter. It's a fun way to excite my students about math and give them a lesson they won't soon forget.

Happy Pi Day!

4 comments:

Thuc-Khanh said...

How fun!! Sad to admit, but I've never celebrated Pi day, neither as a student nor as a teacher. I think it's because 3/14 lands during our Spring Break :( I'll have to live vicariously through you and your students.

Brandy King said...

Last year Pi day was on a Sunday. I was really disappointed, so my students and I decided to celebrate the Friday before. d

Thuc-Khanh said...

One of my math teacher friends suggested to celebrate Pi day on March 1 for 3.1. Hmmm... maybe. Here we teach the students to use 3 for Pi on multiple choice questions and pick the closest answer because the students don't have the use of a calculator. This same friend said that in this case we can celebrate Pi month for all of March!

Brandy King said...

I read somewhere online that some people plan a huge celebration for 1:59 on the 14th so that they are really celebrating 3.14159.... the posiblilities are endless! :)

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