March 14th is Pi (π) Day!
Pi Day was established by physicist Larry Shaw in 1988. Pi is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle, meaning that regardless of the circle’s size, the ratio will always equal pi. Fun fact: Did you know that 3.14 is also famed mathematician Albert Einstein’s birthday?
To help you celebrate Pi Day in your classrooms, we’re sharing some fun activities that you can share with your students. They’re as simple as 3.141592…
Pie Bake Off
Challenge the math department in your school to a pie baking challenge. Enlist your students to be judges or flip this idea around and have the students make the pies and the math teachers judge their creations.
Host a Friendly Classroom Competition
Test your student’s memorization skills by giving them 3-5 minutes to write down the digits that make up pi in the correct order. When the timer is up, go around the classroom and ask each student to read their number combination aloud. The student who has the highest number of correct digits, wins! Or, assign your students this task a few days ahead to give them more time to memorize the number sequence. You can even give out prizes for the winner.
Throw a Pizza Pi Party
We’ve all heard pizza being referred to as a “pie” so why not celebrate with a delicious slice! Before handing out a slice to each student, use this as an opportunity to cover a quick lesson on fractions by cutting the slices into smaller pieces.
Hold a Web-Based Scavenger Hunt
Web-based scavenger hunts can not only help develop your students’ research skills, but they can also be a fun activity that keeps them engaged. Below are a few questions you can ask your students to research in celebration of Pi Day.
- Calculate how old you are in Pi Years using this site: https://pidays.jtey.com/
- Find a song that has the word pie in it.
- Find a circular object around the classroom – measure the circumference and diameter to find the ratio of pi (it should equal pi each time).
- Find a city with the area code 314.
- Find a famous person born on 3/14.
- Find a recipe for your favorite kind of pie.
- Find a U.S. city zip code with the first five digits of pi.
More Pi Day Resources for Math Teachers
Did you know there is a website dedicated to Pi Day? Check out PiDay.org to find 25 Surprising Facts About Pi, Videos, Calculators, and more ways to celebrate Pi.
Will you be celebrating Pi day in your classrooms this year? We’d love to hear what you have in store. Comment below.