Perfect Pi Day Activities for the Elementary and Middle School Classroom
Pi Day, March 14 (3/14), is the perfect day to celebrate everything math in your upper elementary or middle school classroom with these Pi Day activities! However, some teachers hesitate to celebrate because their students may not be ready for decimals, formulas, or Pi, or they do not want the stress of making pie, pizza, or any other circular foods. I am right there with you!
So I came up with some super easy and fun Pi Day activities for my upper elementary students to enjoy Pi Day along with the big kids.
Pi Day Vocabulary
Many fourth and fifth-grade students may not grasp the formula for Pi. However, most are beginning to work with higher-level math vocabulary. This “Pi in a Pie” perfectly introduces circle vocabulary and celebrates Pi Day. Once complete, add the diagram to students’ notes or hang it on the wall for a cute math-themed bulletin board.
Pi Day Pie Graph
Upper Elementary and Middle School students love to give each other surveys! Why not have them create a survey about what flavor pie their classmates enjoy? If you are brave, you might even have parents donate a few pies and have a taste test.
You could also use pizza, cookies, crepes, donuts, or pancakes.
Once finished, students poll each other on their favorite pie flavor and create a Pie Graph.
Digits of Pi Graph
Pi digits graphs are the perfect way to practice graphing skills without food!
Students can use the data collection and graphing theme to create a Pi Graph. It is still incomprehensible to many students that the digits of Pi never end or even repeat. Having students graph how many times each digit, 0 – 9, shows up in the first 100 digits of Pi is a great way to practice number recognition, attention to detail, and data collection.
This Pi Day activity makes a great “take to your seat” independent or partner activity.
Cootie Catchers
No matter the age, elementary and middle school students still find cootie catchers fun to make and even more fun to engage with others.
Some ideas to put inside the cootie catchers:
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- Area and Circumference Formulas
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- Pi or Circle Vocabulary
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- Pi Trivia
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- Circular and Cylinder shaped objects found in everyday life
Grab a FREE Cootie Catcher Template here!
Pi Ku
What is a “Pi Ku”? It’s a haiku with a Pi Day twist!
A Pi Ku is a non-rhyming poem that follows a syllable pattern similar to a haiku. Instead of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 syllables, a Pi Ku is 3 syllables, 1 syllable, and 4 syllables. It’s a great way to incorporate Language Arts into your Pi Day celebrations!
Pi Day Puzzles
Who doesn’t love a good puzzle? There are so many options for making these Pi Day Puzzles. Each piece can be used to review any important math skill for your students, multiplication, division, and integers. You name it!
Easy to make with PowerPoint, or grab an editable one here!
Pi Day One Pager
It’s no secret I love One-Pagers! Not only are they great for math concepts, but they are also a perfect Pi Day activity.
Students can research Pi online or using this close-read article, All About Pi.
Here are a few ideas students can include on their Pi Day One-Pager:
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- Formulas using Pi
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- Pi Facts and Trivia
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- Uses of Pi in the real world
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- History of Pi
Explore Pi
This Pi Day activity takes a little more planning, but with support, most Upper Elementary and Middle School math students can calculate Pi with a calculator.
Set up stations with circular objects such as paper plates, cans, or circle worksheets. Students can use various objects to measure each circle’s circumference and diameter. Students can then transfer the measurements to a detailed fill-in formula and use a calculator to see if they can calculate Pi. Most of the time, students will get a close estimate. It’s fun to see who can come the closest to Pi!
Pi Paper Chain
A Pi Day activity that is calm yet really brings to life how irrational Pi is, is to make a Pi paper chain. Some classrooms have even gone on to try and break the record for the most digits of Pi represented on their chain.
- Find 10 different colors of construction paper (This seems to be the most difficult part of this activity!).
- Cut the paper into strips.
- Print out a page with at least the first 100 digits of Pi.
- Students work together to recreate the digits of Pi using the paper strips.
Hang around the classroom as a reminder that math and art often coincide!
