March 13, 2013

Mid-week Morsel: The Pi Life

The good life should always include pie, but today we are talking pi...as in , or 3.14159...  This mathematical ratio is celebrated around the world on March 14 (3/14).  The day also happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday, which makes it a great reason to take a break from Reading Month for a little math.  

Mid-week Morsels general focus on one resource, however there are so many activities for Pi Day that this week's morsel is a little meaty.  First, I'll start with younger children.  Unless your children are in at least 4th or 5th grade, chances are they don't know about ∏.  Layers of Learning tells how to simply explain pi to children.  If you're feeling crafty, Helping Little Hands has a Pi Day t-shirt how-to (pictured to the right), and a circle collage activity your little ones are sure to love.  For younger children, celebrating Pi Day is more about exposure and making math fun.  They can still celebrate even if they don't understand ∏ or if you don't think it's appropriate to try to explain it.


For upper elementary and older children, there are a wealth of activities.  In my opinion, Education World and The Home School Mom have the best sites for activities and lessons.  More importantly, they both tell you what range of grade levels each activity or lesson is appropriate for.  TeachPi.org,  PiDay.org, and San Francisco's Exploratorium are all stock piled with information including videos, t-shirts, music, lessons, activities, events, and more.  Finally, Pam Burke is a high school math teacher who has posted activities she has done with her students on Mrs. Burke's Math Page.


Other resources I found were a video cartoon explaining Pi for older children, sodoku puzzles, a free unit study on ∏, and a Pi Day web quest.  

There are so many more resources out there for Pi Day.  If you want to do more searching on your own, here are three great Pinterest boards full of places to start:

Edutopia's Math Rules! Pinterest board

Shari Bithell's Pi Day Activities Pinterest board

Amy Gentile-Cantone's Pi Day Pinterest board

Karissa



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