Meaning of “pi” explored in D54
District 54 celebrated “Pi Day” on March 14 in various ways at various schools.
At Aldrin School in Schaumburg, sixth-grade teacher Jane Moore bought apple pie for the students and gave out Pi and Albert Einstein pencils.
At Hoover Elementary School in Schaumburg, Carol Metzke’s Transitions Math class had just completed lessons using pi.
“I had four different pies that the students needed to measure for the diameter and radius,” Metzke said. “While they were completing their calculations using our new calculators, I divided up the pie, and we enjoyed it while sharing our answers for area and circumference.
“I then shared a website which identified some ‘fun facts’ plus the calculations for pi. They were amazed!”
Rochelle Doty, the gifted education resource teacher said gifted resource students at Collins and Campanelli schools celebrated Pi Day by wearing badges that said “Celebrate Pi Day 2011,” with the symbol of Pi and 3.14.
Second- through fourth-graders used a tri-fold activity that guided them through three activities: exploring the three formulas of Circumference = Pi x Diameter; Diameter = Circumference divided by Pi; and Pi = Circumference divided by Diameter. They used yarn, rulers, yard sticks and measuring tape along with various circular items brought in or found in the room.
Fifth- and sixth-graders measured various items using the above formulas as well as working with the area of a circle. They calculated two formulas to find the area of a circle. Their work continued the next day as they found ¼ of the area of a circle and discovered the formula for that process as well.
They also got a piece of either cherry or apple pie to celebrate.
Jennifer Heldt, math teacher at Keller Junior High School, said her seventh-graders were given the first 63 numbers in pi the week before.
“We had a challenge for each individual class period to see how many digits of pi they could remember,” she reported. “The student in each class that could remember the most digits of pi was given a piece of pizza ‘pie’ as an incentive.”
“We had students that were so competitive that they looked up more digits of pi on their own to memorize,” Heldt added. “We have had students remember up to 82 digits of pi so far.”