Monday 10 March 2014

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...for a Math Teacher!

Do you know what Friday is?? If you are a math teacher you do!

It's Pi Day! 3.14!


How do you plan to celebrate?


I love Pi day and always make it my personal mission to make a big deal out of it. I usually start talking it up to my students a week in advance to get them excited.

Here's a glimpse at how I celebrate Pi day:

Every year Pi day looks a little different. I've celebrated the day simply within my math classes, I've celebrated with my whole team, and I've also organized the day for all the grade 8's in my school. I've done small scale and large scale celebrations, and they have always been well worth the organization required. The kids (and teachers) always have a blast!

One misconception I think a lot of teachers have about Pi Day is that it is all about Math...not true! When I first sat down with a colleague of mine, we made sure to integrate our activities within all the core subject areas. This way we were able to convince out team teachers to get on board with us, to make Pi Day an all day celebration! 

Here's just a few of the activities I do throughout the day.

1. Pi Memorization - I don't think Pi day is complete without a memorization competition. A week in advance inform students of the competition and provide them with cards with the first 100 or so digits of Pi. I had a student last year blow my class record of 170 digits out of the water, by memorizing 217! My mouth was literally on the floor!


2. Pi FactsRead interesting facts about Pi to your students throughout the day, or post them around your classroom. If there is time, use these facts to create a short trivia game that students can compete in at the end of the day. 

3. Pi challenges - I do a couple of these throughout the day as quick engagement activities. One idea - get your students to make a list of all the words they can think of that start with "pi".

4. Pi Centers - Have student work through a series of centers to learn even more about this amazing number. One idea - Draw the perfect freehand circle.


5. "Pi"e activities - Pi Day wouldn't be complete without some actual pie. Two ideas - pie eating competition, pie throwing auction - enough said!

Want to celebrate Pi Day, but don't have the time to plan it?
Check out my full resource for a fun-filled Pi Day here.


For more ideas and activities, check out these Pinterest boards, dedicated to all things Pi.

Teaching Math by Hart - Pi Day

4mulafun - Pi Day Activities and More

Miss Math Dork - March 14 - Pi Day!


I would love to hear what you have planned for Friday! Leave me a comment below.

Happy Pi Day to all my fellow Math teachers! Have a good one!

7 comments:

  1. Great ideas Kim! I shared your post on my FB page and I thought you might want to know I have a PI Day board too at http://www.pinterest.com/teachingisagift/pi-day/ and I did a big post about Pi Day last year here http://teachingisagift.blogspot.ca/2013/03/huge-pi-day-celebration-and-freebies.html. Your ideas sound fantastic! I have added your post to my PI Day board too!
    Sidney

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    1. Thanks so much for sharing my post Sidney! I will definitely check out your 2 links.
      Happy Pi Day!
      Kim

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  2. I have never thought about how pi activities can be used in other subject areas. He is how I clelebrate pi day with my student
    http://theelementarymathmaniac.blogspot.com/2014/02/celebrating-pi-day.html

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    1. One year we made it a whole day celebration! They wrote songs/poems about Pi in language arts, created "circular" art in art class, completed a Pi webquest in social studies and designed a Fris"pi" in Science class. It was an awesome day!
      Going to check out how you celebrate right now. Thanks for sharing!
      Kim

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  3. Kim, you have such cute ideas! I love reading about your math lessons and ideas. I have nominated you for a Liebster Award on my blog :) Check it out when you have time!

    Maegan @ Third Grade BROWNies

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    1. Thanks so much Maegan. I will check it out right now!
      Kim

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