American Pi

PUZZLING MORNING: It was my pleasure to announce to the kids early this morning that it was Pi Day! That special day once a year - only and always March 14.

We started by talking about just what Pi is. I had them hold paper plates and trace around the edge or circumference. Then we talked about what diameter means - a straight line from the circle's side to side, passing through its center.

Then, I told them that thousands of years ago, some very smart folks figured out that a circle's circumference is about 3.14 times its diameter. Of course, it's that "about .14" people have fun with. I held up a poster for the kids to read a few dozens of the decimal points. They thought it was hysterical that the number was so long.

(BTW, this picture doesn't show the lines and lines of little numbers that follow it.)

To help cement the concepts introduced, we watched a couple of videos. The first was one about circles and measurements and formulas concerning them. Annabelle said she thought it was a little confusing, so we watched it again, and this time I wrote some notes on our white board during it, and that helped it click for her.

We also watched a kinda weird music video about the number Pi. I think it helped the kids understand how the number goes on and on and on ...

Next, we moved on to work a jigsaw puzzle. But not just any puzzle - it was a two-sided puzzle of a pie with the symbol for Pi on one side, and 3.14 and so on and so on on the other side. It was a small puzzle, but really hard due to the pieces' shapes, especially when working the fruit side, which is what we did first. I challenged the kids to see if we could finish the puzzle before the song "American Pie" finished. It was close, but we fell a couple pieces short of that goal.

After the jigsaw, we did a hands on activity to help illustrate the 3.14 fact. I had the kids wrap a string around the outside (circumference) of a small plate. We cut that, and then I had them take that string and run it back and forth across their plate. How many times did it make it across and back (diameter)?

Three full times - with just a tad bit (.14 etc.) extra!

THE REAL DEAL: Naturally, we HAD to make some pie on Pi Day!
CJ and Annabelle each made their first from-scratch pie crust. The cut butter into flour (that took awhile!) and added a bit of water. After we chilled the dough for awhile, they rolled it out and cut circles to make mini pies.
We filled them with a cooked Cameo apple filling and sealed the edges with a fork. They cooked for about 15 minutes. After the pies cooled, the kids decorated them with Pi symbols (with some added flair) made from glittery gel icing.

The cute little lessons were pretty tasty, too!
PIZZA PIE: For dinner, naturally we had to have pizzas.

I let the kids each make their own personal Pi pie. They even got to try some dough tossing for the first time ...
CJ was a bit timid at first, but after about a minute, he was making some ceiling-scraping tosses!
They topped their dough with some homemade pizza sauce, grated cheese, olives, and Canadian bacon.
CHALK IT UP: This evening I walked into the kids' room to check on them and found Annabelle doodling on their closet-door-blackboard.

I could hardly believe my eyes! AND ONE MORE THING: Happy birthday to Albert Einstein.