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Activities for Pi Day?

  • 1.  Activities for Pi Day?

    Posted 01-25-2022 05:46:00 PM
    Curious if anyone has activities they would be willing to share that focus on Pi - circles, diameter, circumference, area, etc...
    maybe a mathematical way to estimate the age of schoolyard trees? 

    I would like to provide some garden-based activities for teachers on and around Pi Day!

    Thanks, 
    Sam 



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    Sam Ullery
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  • 2.  RE: Activities for Pi Day?

    Posted 01-26-2022 11:15:00 AM
    Why not make a PIE and calculate its circumference and then measure or its volume ;)

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    Robin Jenkinson
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Activities for Pi Day?

    Posted 01-26-2022 04:44:00 PM
    I have had upper elementary students measure the diameter of a tree trunk, 12 inches above the soil level. They then used those inches to calculate the number of cups of organic fertilizer to apply to the base of the tree.
    Not too much circle math going on, but it could be a time to introduce/review "diameters" 
    At times I have also had students measure the circumference of tree trunks by wrapping a string around the trunk, marking it and then measuring the string. I did this just to practice measuring and understanding the difference between diameter and circumference and then later in a lesson we'd return to measure the diameters for the fertility calculations. 


    John Fisher
    Life Lab
     



    John Fisher
    www.lifelab.org
    831.471.7831 mobile




    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Activities for Pi Day?

    Posted 01-27-2022 11:12:00 AM
    Rolling with the pie idea maybe make mud pies? A bit messy perhaps but fun!

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    Peggy K.
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Activities for Pi Day?

    Posted 01-28-2022 11:08:00 AM
    Playing off the mud pie activity:


    --
    Michelle Zupan
    Curator 
    Hickory Hill & the Tom Watson Birthplace
    502 Hickory Hill Drive
    Thomson, GA  30824
    706-595-7777
    FAX: 706-595-7177

    Visit us at www.hickory-hill.org or on Facebook.
    Follow us on Twitter: HHEducation

    Historic homes of the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc. 






    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Activities for Pi Day?

    Posted 01-26-2022 11:18:00 AM
    Fantastic fantastic idea. What a great way to make learning the Pi fun in the garden. Thank you for sharing the idea. I have to look up more information and learn but we'll be following you our discussion thread.

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    THERESA HAGELBARGER
    CA
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Activities for Pi Day?

    Posted 01-26-2022 03:49:00 PM
    Pi Day falls right in the middle of Maple Sugaring season in the Northeast, so for schools in that region it can be tied in with a Maple Sugaring/Tapping the Maple trees curriculum. For example, traditionally a maple tree has to be 12" in diameter to be tapped the first time, but with modern taps and lines many producers are tapping trees at 10".  We tap maple trees on our campus and make maple syrup and the kids learn how to measure the circumference of the trees to calculate the diameter, so we can know if the tree can be tapped or not, and how many taps we can put in.

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    Julia Birtolo
    Sweetser
    Saco ME
    207-294-4740
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Activities for Pi Day?

    Posted 01-28-2022 01:40:00 PM
    What an interesting curriculum! There aren't maple trees in Texas, but I would really love to learn these things.

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    [Lara] [Guerra]
    [Science Teacher]
    [The Hockaday School]
    [Dallas] [Texas]
    [lguerra@hockaday.org]
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Activities for Pi Day?

    Posted 02-03-2022 07:56:00 PM
    There are maples in Texas, (Lost Maples State Park), but they don't really produce syrup well it seems. Our climate doesn't seem really conducive to great growth (tree usually need to be 12" in diameter before they can be tapped) and I think our rainfall levels make sap amounts low.

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    Patricia Nicoll
    Saint Mary's Hall
    SAN ANTONIO TX
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Activities for Pi Day?

    Posted 02-04-2022 09:48:00 AM
    There are only 3 species of maples tapped for sugar/syrup. The most common is Acer saccharum, the sugar maple.  The trees have to have a particular length of time when the ground freezes and the sap is full in the roots in order to produce the requisite sugar content in the spring when the sap rises. In the South and Southwest the ground is rarely frozen enough for that. 

    --
    Michelle Zupan
    Curator 
    Hickory Hill & the Tom Watson Birthplace
    502 Hickory Hill Drive
    Thomson, GA  30824
    706-595-7777
    FAX: 706-595-7177

    Visit us at www.hickory-hill.org or on Facebook.
    Follow us on Twitter: HHEducation

    Historic homes of the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc. 






    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Activities for Pi Day?

    Posted 01-31-2022 10:51:00 AM
    Have any round pots laying around the garden?  Students can measure circumference and diameter and find out that the relationship between the two is always 3.14.



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    Anne Santana
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    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Activities for Pi Day?

    Posted 02-05-2022 12:54:00 PM
    Pizza Pi!
    Plant a circular pizza garden, "sliced" into sections for each ingredient, tomatoes, peppers, onions, basil etc.
    The kids can measure area, circumference, diameter, radii, etc of the pizza garden itself as well as things associated with both pizza gardening and making pizza: tomato cages, different varieties of tomatoes or mushrooms, pizza cutting wheels, pizza stones, dinner plates, slices of pepperoni, giant wheels of cheese....


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    Tracy Calla
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    Original Message


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