Pi Day: An Example of an Interdisciplinary, Engaging Lesson

I have the privilege of teaching my gifted elementary students at two Title 1 schools for multiple years. Each year I have special thematic days for which the students get very excited, e.g., Halloween and Day of the Dead “Wars,” Valentines Day, Book Celebrations, and Pi Day. I love planning a variety of interdisciplinary activities for these days. It is like planning parties. I want to give them memories of positive school experiences that last a lifetime. When I announce these upcoming celebrations, the students who have been in my program for multiple years cheer loudly. My new students then get excited, too.

I’ve blogged about the value of interdisciplinary units before – All Lessons Should Be Interdisciplinary https://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/all-lessons-should-be-interdisciplinary/

Pi Day Activities

The day consisted of the following activities:

• Introduction – Pi Day Trivia
• Book: Sir Cumference
• Kahoot Pi Games
• Digital Breakout
• Making and Decorating Pies
• Measuring for Pi
• Stations
  • Pi Fortune Teller
  • Pi Sky Line
  • Race to Pi Card Game

Standards Addressed

A variety of cross-disciplinary content standards were addressed during this lesson.

Common Core Math Standards:

• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.G.B.4
  Know the formulas for the area and circumference of a circle and use them to solve problems; give an informal derivation of the relationship between the circumference and area of a circle.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.A.1
  Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system, and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.7
  Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.10
  By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 4-5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

National Core Art Standards:

• Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
• Refine and complete artistic work. (https://www.nationalartsstandards.org/)

Pi Day Trivia

Students were introduced to Pi and Pi Day through the following videos:

Sir Cumference

The students then were shown a reading of Sir Cumference and the First Round Table (A Math Adventure) by Cindy Neuschwander:

Join Sir Cumference, Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius for wordplay, puns, and problem solving in this geometry-packed math adventure. King Arthur was a good ruler, but now he needs a good ruler. What would you do if the neighboring kingdom were threatening war? Naturally, you’d call your strongest and bravest knights together to come up with a solution. But when your conference table causes more problems than the threat of your enemy, you need expert help. Enter Sir Cumference, his wife Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius. With the help of the carpenter, Geo of Metry, this sharp-minded team designs the perfect table conducive to discussing the perfect plan for peace (https://www.amazon.com/Cumference-First-Round-Table-Adventure/dp/1570911525).

Pi Kahoots

My students cheer when we do Kahoot quizzes. The Kahoot quizzes made and submitted by other teachers make it so easy to use. Here are the two Pi Kahoots I did with the students:

Accessed at: https://create.kahoot.it/details/0210be57-ce68-489a-9054-d9165b8165ff

Accessed at: https://create.kahoot.it/details/pi-day-trivia/a7605cd3-4c93-4c13-bc23-eec96da2a627

Digital Breakout EDU – Pi Day

Breakout EDU is an immersive learning games platform. Breakout EDU games consist of a combination of physical and digital puzzle elements that must be solved in a set amount of time. Players of all ages are challenged to open the locked Breakout EDU box using critical thinking, collaboration and creativity. (https://orrhslibrary.weebly.com/what-is-breakout-edu.html).

Here is the Pi Day Digital Breakout EDU game they did.

Can be accessed at https://platform.breakoutedu.com/game/play/pi-day-digital-breakout-4th-6th-grades-90608 .

Making and Decorating Pies

One of the activities students enjoy the most during Pi day is making pies. They were given ingredients and recipes for:

• Peanut Butter Pie – https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/12181/no-bake-peanut-butter-pie/ 
• Lemon Pie – https://littlespoonfarm.com/no-bake-lemon-icebox-pie-recipe/ 
• Strawberry – https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/pie/strawberry-icebox-pie.html 
• Graham cracker crust (for use in the Pi pan) – https://www.callmepmc.com/how-to-make-a-no-bake-graham-cracker-crust/ 
• Royal Icing (for decorating the pies) – https://www.chsugar.com/recipe/royal-icing-with-meringue-powder

They needed to follow the recipe which included figuring out the directions and using measurements. I even bought a Pi pan for them to use. After the pies were made, they decorated them with Pi symbols and characters.

Measuring for Pi

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With tape measures in hand, groups of students carefully measure the circumferences and diameters of various round objects.  The class makes a table of measured values and calculates the quotients.  When they see time and time again the same answer result from division, whether it be from big circular objects or small ones—eureka!—they will have unwittingly discovered π for themselves (http://ccssimath.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-life-of-pi.html).

I created a competition to see which team could achieve Pi based on their measurements of diameters and circumferences of real world objects. I watched as they struggled with and learning about circumferences, diameters, and pi; about doing accurate measurement; about converting fractions into decimals to do their calculations; and about using the Pi formula.

Stations

Students could choose from the following stations to complete their Pi days.

Pi Fortune Teller

fortunetellerfindingthecircumferenceofacircle-1Download

Pi Graph Skyline

Directions for this activity can be found at https://carrotsareorange.com/pi-day-activities/.

Race to Pi Card Game

Directions can be found at https://mathgeekmama.com/pi-day-card-game/.