Pi Day Ideas

Pi day is one of my favorite days of the year!  This year my students are going to learn about Pi through a variety of interactive activities.

First, I am going to begin with one of my favorite books, Sir Cumference and the First Round Table.  One of the places it can be purchased is amazon:

 https://www.amazon.com/Cumference-First-Round-Table-Adventure/dp/1570911525/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489351631&sr=8-1&keywords=cir+cumference


 It is also available on youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ4MbU8928c

My class is currently working on comparing and contrasting traditional literature as well as sequence of events/timelines. Therefore, as a part of our discussion, we are going to look at components of this story and discuss its genre, sequence of events, practice summarizing, character traits , etc.

Next, we are going to put theory to the test. Does Pi really equal to 3.14? Students will work with variety of circular objects in small groups to figure out value of Pi. Here are a couple of examples of what I'll be using in class. Students will practice multiplication, measuring skills, and will discuss their findings in small groups as well as with the whole class. 

Pi day wouldn't be truly interactive without a S.T.E.M. activity. While searching on TPT, I found this exciting packet that I will be able to use for several activities, but for PI day specifically , I will have my students work in small groups to complete the "Plate Transformation" challenge. This entire packet is an excellent resource because it provides plenty of activities for critical thinking and discussion while requiring very few supplies. For example, "Plate Transformation" only requires paper plates and scissors. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Paper-Plate-STEM-Challenges-Great-for-Pi-Day-3022280

After our S.T.E.M activity, students will work with a partner to complete  the graphic organizer activity poster. Each student will have their own poster, but they can work together to discuss. Students will present their work in small groups. 

This product is available FREE on TPT , grab yours while you can. I am certainly excited about using mine in the classroom!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pi-Day-Graphic-Organizer-Activity-Poster-Freebie-595161

Last, but not least, I am going to test my students' memory. Over the weekend, I posted on class dojo what Pi stands for. It will be also displayed on the document camera throughout the day. Their job is to memorize as many numbers as they can and on Tuesday (Pi Day) we are going to have a friendly competition. The winner and the runner up will receive, a pie of course! If you are short on time, one way to do this is to give each student an index card or a sticky note and have them write out as many numbers they remember that stand for pi. Then you can collect their cards and announce the winner when time permits. 

 

I can't wait to try out these Pi day activities with my students on Tuesday and will share with you photos of how it looked in my classroom.  I hope you found these ideas and resources helpful and enjoy your pi day!


I would love to hear your ideas and any resources you'd like to share to engage students in learning about Pi


Always learning,

Irina Swanson

Lucky Dolphin

"Aha" moments are so rare and so wonderful when they happen. Perhaps a part of the beauty of these moments is that you never know when you'll have one. Tonight, I was lucky to have one of those moments. Earlier, when I went running , it kept bugging  and bugging me that one of the most confident students I know is struggling with being nervous about  EBOB competition that's coming up. He brought it up to me at least 7 times last week and this is not a kid who is afraid of anything, except for maybe heights which I found out in the middle of a hiking field trip last year. I'd like to think I am a problem-solver and when the issue was heights, I walked with him last year down the stairs at Raven Rock and didn't make it a big deal in front of other kids. I just walked and told him about my fear of heights. I told him if I was taking those steps and I was okay, the same applied to him and he was okay. He was.

With EBOB, I can't do the same. I will be in the audience, but it's different. I will be watching. I will not be the one on the spot and so the same strategy won't work. So I had to think outside the box, maybe not too far outside the box because my immediate thought was "lucky socks". We've all heard of lucky socks, well I just feel like it would be extra creepy to give a kid lucky socks. Maybe I am weird, but I am just not doing that.

Then of course here I am thinking what's my lucky "thing"?
I know I believed in them as a kid, what was it? Finally, I remembered! There was my "aha" moment. Some people have lucky socks, I had a lucky troll! So here I was finishing up washing the dishes and trying to figure out what in the world I did with my lucky troll from 20 years ago and I remembered that it was in my memory box. So, I dug through the garage and found my troll collection (yes, I am that dork who collected trolls in the 90's) and here it was...my lucky troll with beautiful rainbow hair.

I sat there starring at my lucky troll , thinking about all the times I had it in my pocket when I needed that little bit of luck and thought okay, maybe if I give this student my lucky troll and tell him about it, maybe that will help. Then I looked again. Okay, this isn't going to work, my lucky troll is 20 years old. It's a typical naked troll with a butt! This kid is going to be so beyond off task if I give him this thing, there is just no way (photo in this blog). So there I was back to square one...not giving this kid socks because it's crazy. Lucky troll isn't happening unless I can paint clothes on it and that won't happen either. Finally, I had it, that "aha" moment again....lucky dolphin! I had this necklace on a million times last year. I know my students from last year's class have seen it over and over and over. It's a dolphin. It's made out of wood. It's gender neutral. It is not socks. It is not a 20 year old silly troll. It's perfect!  There it is, my  true "aha" moment.

So here is the plan.  I am going to give this student my lucky dolphin to keep in his pocket for the competition and I'm going to hope, just hope that it works just like lucky socks for those of you who've had those or the lucky troll that I grew up with and maybe, just maybe I can kill two birds with one stone and give the same dolphin to my student who won't stop second-guessing himself at the end of the year to keep in his pocket for the EOG.

So here's to "aha" moments and here's to hoping that this works. I'll keep you updated .

A little magic has never hurt anyone....so let's hope this lucky dolphin is ready for the job!

Yes, this is my troll from the 90's and there's no way this was going work, the dolphin is much cooler and more appropriate !      -

I Run.

 In life, running away is not a valid option. Sure, one can say, "this is too difficult" and choose to not do what's ahead or choose to regret steps taken and back out, but that's called giving up and when you give up, you say you're not good enough. Who's to say what you can accomplish, but you yourself? I choose the option of never turning back, never giving up. So, running away is not a valid option. I strongly believe that when you choose to run, the only place to run is forward. We can't take back time, thus we truly cannot undo anything that has been done and why would you want to? Life is a journey. Set a goal and never put less than 100% into achieving it because why should you be worth less than that? If it's important enough , make it happen.

Personally, and this time not metaphorically speaking, I've never been a good runner. I was that girl in high school that hid from running a mile or that kid out of breath when playing tag. As an adult, for a long time I said that running wasn't for me and then I got to the point where I just needed a way to blow some steam and whether it was from frustrating events in my life at the time or whatever it may have been, all of a sudden I was able to run. Of course things got in the way a few months later. Then I managed to hurt my ankle and couldn't run for two months, but now I am back. I am back as a super slow runner who walks more than runs, but I am back because I am overwhelmed with what's in my head. I am back because I am trying to find a balance between being a mom, a wife and a teacher. I am back because I have new goals and I haven't figured out how to accomplish them. I am back because I can only run forward. I cannot run away.

So here I was today, attempting to run in my neighborhood at 4pm after being up since 6am, having already had a busy day and my day even now is nowhere near over. I have a paper I need to finish tonight for my AG online class. I have a million ideas for teaching area and perimeter to my 4th graders that I need to put in writing this weekend. I need to find time to truly focus on the fractions Number Talks book because it's awesome and I can't wait to take teaching Number Talks to a new level with introducing this book to my class. I need to figure out what I am doing for tutoring next week. I can't seem to figure out how to help a student who told me at least 7 times this week how nervous he is for the EBOB competition in two weeks.  I can't figure out how to help another student stop second guessing himself every time he answers a multiple-choice question. On my PDP plan, I put that my goal is for 70% of my students to pass the EOG in math and 60% to pass it in ELA which doesn't sound crazy at all. In fact, that's a very realistic number, except for I am not sure that's going to happen and now I am at a point where I have 3 months left until the ultimate reality check , the EOG and , I am second guessing. I am not second guessing my students by any means. I am second guessing if I am doing enough. Did I teach the way they needed to be taught? Did I do everything I could? Am I doing everything I can? A lot of thoughts, a lot of questions and somehow in the middle of it all , I finally figured out what I want to write a book about, but of course knowing me , it's not an easy topic. Nowhere near and now I have to figure out how to make it happen because if I can , I'm going to be able to put my two biggest passions together, teaching and writing and I can't wait.

Did I mention all of this is going through my head while being a wife and a mom of 4? Here I am trying to cook dinner, fold laundry, spend time with my kids and be the best  mom I can be while being the best teacher I can be. So this is why I am running again. I am running forward. I am running to clear my head. I am running to create clarity , find a way to organize my thoughts and prioritize. I am running to find peace in my inner self. I am running because talking isn't working. I am running because that's my answer-run forward and find a way to accomplish my goals because I know that I can and that if the girl who used to hide from P.E. can run, the same woman can make the rest of her goals reality.

I run because running away isn't an option. I run because I have a purpose. I run because my goals and dreams are too big to stop running toward them.

Why do you do what you do? What helps you stay focused?