Celebrating Math on National Pi Day!

March 14 is National Pi Day. That’s right, there is a National Day to celebrate the never-ending number that is often reduced to 3.14159. What is Pi? Pi is the number of times a circle’s diameter will fit around its circumference. It’s true that people love Pi, but the real reason that the House of Representatives passed House Resolution 224 is because math is a vital part of education for children. Children who perform well in math have higher graduation and college attendance rates. National Pi Day is a way to encourage educators to engage in fun mathematical activities that get kids thinking.

Math is a popular subject for young students. Children in preschool and early elementary school are encouraged to learn math with manipulatives and toys. Bear counters, pattern blocks, linking cubes, number charts, geoboards and tangrams. What a fun way to learn basic concepts! Hands-on, colorful toys that keep you entertained and help you learn visually and kinesthetically. Suddenly, the teaching aids are taken away and math becomes more difficult and mundane.

But math doesn’t have to be hard or dull. In honor of National Pi Day, here are some great books, tools, and websites to help grow your students’ love for math.

Nationalpiday.org – Dedicated to promoting and informing about Pi. Full of facts and Pi-related activities.

Piday.org – All things Pi.

Learning Wrap-Ups – These cool little keys are available in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Kids wrap the string to create the proper equation and find the correct answer. They know they are right if their string matches up with the markings on the back of the key. 

This is Not a Math Book – An awesome activity book that shows how math makes art.

Pi Day Activities – https://www.whatdowedoallday.com/pi-day-activities/ – Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the post and check out the other links for tessellations, spirolaterals, and fibonacci art project.

Illustrated Math Dictionary – Colorful pictures and lively text helps kids (and parents) navigate the world of math. Also available for elementary and middle/high school.

Wipe Clean Math – Dry erase activity books are perfect for early math so kids can practice numbers and math facts over and over again. Available in First Math, Writing Numbers, Telling the Time, and Starting Times Tables. On a personal note, I use First Math with my daughter and she still goes back to it to practice because she likes the activities and my 8-year old sun uses the multiplication book which has been very helpful in teaching the basics.

Do you have a favorite math activity or tool?

Local to the Orange County area? Don’t forget to check out Imaginology, the STEAM fair for kids at the Orange County Fair Grounds from April 21-23, 2017.