Irrational Fun with Pi Day in Your Classroom
Posted by Amanda Kenuam on Thu, Mar 11, 2010
With the use of computers, pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, has been calculated to over 1 trillion digits past the decimal. Pi is an irrational number, which means it will continue infinitely without repeating. Pi is equal to about 3.1415926535...
We often estimate pi in elementary classrooms to be about 3.14. As such, Pi Day is celebrated annually on March 14, in accordance with Einstein's birthday, by math enthusiasts around the world.
Pi Day falls on a Sunday this year, but you can still incorporate fun Pi Day festivities in your classroom. Students of all ages love celebrating the magic of numbers. There are many ways to incorporate the event into your curriculum.
Pi Bee
Every year my fourth and fifth grade students participate in a Pi Bee. The students have one day, night, or weekend to memorize as many digits of pi as they can. You will be amazed at how many digits of Pi your students will memorize. Last year's winner memorized 89 digits of pi in one morning!
The winner received a large pie to take home to their families and a ribbon. Students get engaged and motivated about the beauty and magic of numbers and still talk about pi day, years after. To introduce the Pi Bee I start off with the video below.
Links for an excellent Pi Day Celebration:
Photo from Mykl Roventine
Free Teacher Resources including Math Games by Learning Today