Happy pi (π) Day!

We had so much fun celebrating π day on Friday! I will explain for anyone not following. π is a Greek letter that represents a mathematical constant number. π = 3.1415..... the number goes on forever as far as anyone has determined. We celebrate pi day on March 14th because the date is 3/14. FYI, next year will be extra special because it will be 3/14/15 so the first four numbers of π will be represented in the date.

T is 7.5yrs right now and he actually has not had any experience with π in the past. We started out the day with basically the same description that I just gave of what pi day is. I got a few looks from him, he may be starting to figure out that his parents are math and science geeks.

Then I busted out the girl scout cookies for our first lesson in π! 

We measured the diameter of a girl scout thin mint cookie and multiplied it by π to determine the circumference of the cookie. Go ahead and check out the picture below, I know you have always been curious! (remember you can click on all of my pictures to make them larger)

T wanted to try his hand at drawing the symbol for π. 

The fun continued by measuring the diameter and radius of a paper plate and then calculating the circumference. Sorry, this picture is a little hard to see, we used colored pencils, markers would have worked better.

T went on the hunt in our classroom for other circles to measure. We found a nice variety of sizes.
He measured each of their diameters and then he calculated their circumference using a calculator.  I think when T is a bit older (maybe next year) I will have him do the math without the calculator. We have not gotten much into decimals yet except for comparing them to fractions.

We ended our little celebration with a book from one of our favorite series Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi.