If there’s one holiday that Math teachers love to celebrate it’s Pi Day – March 14. Here are some fun Pi Day activities you can do with your students to help them realize just how interesting a circle can be.
1. Discovering Pi Using Found Circles
Our classrooms and homes are filled with circles! If you are planning ahead, encourage your students to bring in an item from home that contains a circle they could measure the circumference of, like a can or a flower pot. You can also just gather a collection of circles from your classroom like in the picture below.
Use string or even long strips of paper (it’s a bit sturdier) to measure the circumference and diameter of the found circles. Then measure the length of the string or paper (since a ruler can’t bend in a circle). Students should record their measurements in a table.
Have students do some calculations to discover the relationship between circumference and diameter. With their measurements have them calculate the following:
C (circumference) – d (diameter)
C + d
C x d
C ÷ d
What patterns did they notice?
2. Pi Videos
Once your students have discovered pi all on their own, share one ore more of these videos with them.
These two videos explain Pi Day:
This video is a catchy song that you can bet will get stuck in your students’ heads. Give them a challenge to see how many digits of pi they can memorize. You’d be surprised how many kids will actually do it.
3. Pi Day Activities - Add in Some Art
There is nothing better than mixing art with math for some out of the ordinary Pi Day activities – especially in March when kids start to get a little rangy and need something calming to do.
Here are two of our favourite Pi Art activities:
4. Mystery Picture
Now it’s time to put your students’ skills to the test with this circumference and area of circles mystery picture for Google Sheets. When your students answer a question correctly, the cell will turn green and part of the picture (a hilarious pi joke) will be revealed. If an answer is incorrect the cell will turn red and the picture will not change.
This self-checking activity to help reinforce their understanding of the relationships between the circumference, diameter, radius, and area of a circle is sure to be a hit!
We’re currently in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic so sharing food is not allowed but you can bet that as soon as we’re out of this our next Pi Day will definitely have some pie…or at least little tarts. I can’t wait!
May your Pi Day be filled with pizza, pie and students who are starting to see just how beautiful math can be. If you want more ideas about how you can create a community of math learners you have to check out this post about how to foster a growth mindset in math.
