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Friday, March 11, 2016

March 14 Pi Day Classroom Spectacular!


Don't forget about March 14 - 3.14 - also known as Pi Day! Pi Day is a great opportunity for you to encourage exciting and hands-on learning in your classroom teaching about the radius, the diameter, and the circumference of circles. Pi = 3.14159265359... and keeps on going.... We really like to have fun with math. When you make math fun and applicable to real life for students, the principles come to life.

Just as a refresher...the circumference of a circle is determined by multiplying Pi times the diameter (Circumference = Pi x Diameter) . And the area of a circle is determined by multiplying Pi by the radius squared (Area = Pi x Radius2). Pi Day is perfect for exploring this seemingly magic math number. Give your kids challenges for determining area and circumference and then toward the end of class enjoy some pie of your own! Your students will go crazy.

You can also work backwards with these computations. If you know the area of a circle, divide by Pi to get the radius squared (Radius2 = Area / Pi). And if you know the circumference of a circle, divide by Pi to get the diameter (Diameter = Circumference / Pi).

So why is Pi such a big deal? Because it works for EVERY circle! It's a constant, regardless of the size of the circle!

We like pie around here.
We especially like lemon meringue pie.


Sue remembers the Pi equation using this little formula:

Area = Pi Are Squared

No. Pie are round. 
Cakes are square.


....We're working with some real jokers here...

For some great classroom activities, check out our Pi Day Spectacular just in time for you to whip together an impressive and fun day for Pi Day on March 14! Students especially enjoy celebrating with pie or pizza pie at the end of the day! Lemon meringue, anyone?


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