Monday, March 14th, is Pi Day, 3.14. March 14th is also Albert Einstein's birthday! It just doesn't get mathematically better than that!
What is Pi (π)? "Pi is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159." Here is a website dedicated solely to Pi (π) - piday.org. This website contains videos and activities you and your class can participate in on Pi Day. Here is a webquest on Pi Day, and here is one more resource from Education World. An idea that I came up with that students could engage in on Pi Day is having them learn and practice Google Drawings. Here is a simple drawing I made. I inserted a circle shape and labeled the circumference and diameter. Using the special characters, you can also add the π symbol. I hope these resources are helpful to you, and that you have a fun time participating in Pi Day on Monday!
Here is a math lesson taken from Marilyn Burns. This can be used as a back-to-school getting-to-know-you activity, but this lesson can also be used at any time during the school year. This lesson can also be adjusted to fit any grade level. First read the story Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes to your class. You can also play a read aloud of the story on YouTube.
I have also created a Google Form where I have embedded the Chrysanthemum YouTube video. (Here is the link to the Live Google Form.) You can share the form with students or add it as an assignment in Google Classroom so that students can watch the video on their own and then type in their first names and the number of letters in their first names. The data will automatically be placed into a Google Sheet. The data collected in the spreadsheet can be shown in many different ways. You can show students how the spreadsheet can calculate the total number of letters in all of the students' names. You can also insert a chart (insert>chart) and the charts that will work with your data will be displayed. You can choose the one you like, click on it, and it will be inserted right into your sheet. Here is an EXAMPLE I created for this lesson.
Another idea you can use for the data is to have students calculate how much money their names are worth. Here is a Google Doc I created that can be shared with students or added as an assignment in Google Classroom.
And as always, feel free to copy any items I have created and edit and use them however you would like!
A math project I like to engage students in at the beginning of the school year is a project where students get to know each other by presenting numbers that are important in their lives. You can have them share and present their math numbers in many different ways. One way is by having them create a Google Slides presentation such as the one below. You can also have them create a poster on construction paper.
Here is a link to the written directions. Feel free to copy and edit as you wish.
I have students present their information to the class, and I grade them on following the directions, neatness, and their oral presentation. Here is a Rubric that I created on rubistar.4teachers.org, a free website for creating and saving rubrics. I also created a Google Form from the rubric and formatted a Spreadsheet so it will add up the grades and format them different colors. So! Much! Fun!
