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Let's begin by doing some math. Imagine you took a piece of string and wrapped it around the cans above and measured one distance around the top of the can (circumference). Then, imagine measuring the height of the can using that same string. Which can/container do you think would have its height match the circumference?
If you'd like to try this activity for yourself or with your students, here is a recording sheet for you.
Pi Activity Recording Sheet
There are typically several celebrations during the school year that celebrate reading and I suggest that we do the same for math! In my beloved former district in Berlin, NH, we celebrated math on Pi Day, March 14th, and the above activity was always my favorite activity to do with the students. We would discuss the concept of the circumference of the circle being a little over 3 times the diameter in ways that were appropriate to the grade level of students. For some grades we talked about how many times bigger the circumference was than the diameter and in others we did the division. Students will notice that, depending on how accurate they were with their measurements, no matter what the container, the circumference is a little over 3 times the diameter. When you look at the tennis ball container, the circumference matches the height because the height is literally three and a little bit of the diameter of tennis balls. Crazy cool!
Not only did we celebrate the mathematical understanding of Pi, but we celebrated all of math that day. Teachers wore positive math message t-shirts, we had signs with mirrors asking students to see what a mathematician looks like (we hadn't heard of Deborah Peart Crayton's term of Mathers yet! www.mathersgonnamath.com), explanations of teachers' favorite math symbols, and short biographies of famous mathematicians. If any of you have had a similar positive math-themed day, please share with me what you did!
Happy Math Celebrations!
Ann Elise
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