Pi Day Activities for Different Ages

 

On March 14, mathematicians and much of the world celebrate Pi Day. Since the approximation of the number pi is 3.14, March 14th was picked for the day. It was first celebrated in 1988 in San Francisco. As a math teacher I get excited for Pi Day, however our school is always on spring break on March 14th so I don't get to celebrate it with my students. This year I thought I would do a round-up of Pi Day activities and try to share ones for different age groups since much of what I see are for younger kids and I teach high school. Be sure to start your celebration with some pi jokes and riddles like these. Some of the Best Things in Life Are Mistakes shares a round-up of free Pi Day decorations! By the way Pi Day is also Albert Einstein's birthday. You can also have a birthday celebration for Albert!

Christmas Fractal Lesson

 

Over the years I have shared my love for fractals with you. I began with my introduction to frozen fractals after Elsa sings about them in "Let It Go" in Disney's Frozen. A fractal is an object that has self-similarity, or each part looks like the whole. It introduces new ideas of symmetry, dimensionality, and more. Fractal geometry often explains some of the irregularities of our world. It can be a very complex topic to understand, but it is an important one. Fractals are making advances in our medical world, entertainment (movies, computer games and more) as well as science. There are some topics that kids even young kids can understand. Since they were introduced in Frozen, many kids have now heard of them. I feel it is important to teach kids about them and give them a true idea of what they are. 

Exploring Pi with a Fractal & Pi Activity Round-Up

 

I really wanted to do something with pi for artwork in my classroom plus would love a good pi activity. I struggled with this one. I have seen the pi skyline like this one over at What Do We Do All Day? It is fun but not quite what I am looking for. There are different pi artworks if you google "pi art" but most is based on the digits of pi. To be honest I do not believe in having kids memorize the digits of pi, so much of the artwork is not my thing. As I was searching for ideas, I came across this YouTube video that intrigued me. I decided to make the "fractal" that has an area of pi! It is a spin from the Sierpinski Carpet, Menger Sponge, and the Wallis Sieve. Now fractals are supposed to be infinite, but I cannot draw them this way. I am working on taking this fractal to the third level. If you were able to go on infinitely the area of this picture would be pi. 

Meet Ketanji Brown Jackson for Women's History Month

 

I love March! We have Women's History Month, Pi Day, National Quilting Day and National Craft Month!! All my favorite things!! I always love to learn about new women who made a difference in our world. Today I thought I would learn about a woman who is in the current news, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. 

New Multicultural Books Perfect for Women's History Month

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

March is such a funny month. In New England it can be a long month without much to do. The weather is sometimes amazing and often awful. It can be snow or rain and it really depends. Spring begins in March which is always my favorite but it is early spring so it isn't the beautiful part of spring yet. And of course there is Pi Day! One of my favorite holidays!! Mathematicians don't get too many holidays. The other thing that excites me about March is that it is Women's History Month. It is a month for us to discover and learn about the amazing women throughout history that we probably haven't heard of. Most of our history was recorded by men (and around here it was white men) so it is very biased and often doesn't cover the amazing things women have done to support society. I have big plans for this month but to begin I thought I would share two new books that are perfect for Women's History Month. The first is a picture book that shares a favorite story of Dovey Johnson Roundtree liked to tell. Last month I shared a middle grade level book about Dovey but today's book is a perfect way to introduce younger kids to this amazing woman. The book is We Wait for the Sun by Dovey Johnson Roundtree and Katie McCabe and illustrated by Raissa Figueroa.

Discovery Math Activities Round-Up

I saw a meme on Facebook that says: "Think you're bored? When Sir Isaac Newton invented calculus it was during the plague. Do you have any idea how bored you have to be to invent calculus?" Now the truth is Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a German mathematician, published the same discoveries around the exact same time as Isaac Newton. Each mathematician claimed the other stole his ideas, but it is believed that both actually discovered the same thing separately around the same time. (For more about Isaac Newton click here and I share a little more about both men here.) 

Women of Science

On Pi Day I shared a round-up of science books including two that gave some names of women in science that I had not heard of. I decided to do some research and found books on some of them as well as other great women of science. So to end Women's History Month 2018 I thought I would share a bit about these amazing women. Let's start with Marie Tharp. 

Sharing Saturday 18-10

It is time again for Sharing Saturday! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts. So glad you joined us!!

On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all your diverse/cultural posts be sure to share them at Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop. (A new one starts on Sunday and I'm hosting it at Multicultural Kid Blogs).

Science Book Round-Up in Honor of Albert Einstein's Birthday and Pi Day! #STEM

Disclosure: I was sent these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Well, this year Pi Day was a snow day for most of the schools around me including Hazel's. Luckily by late morning it was safe to be on the roads. We headed out to celebrate Pi Day at the Capital One Cafe where they were serving pizza pie and various pies. Did you know that Albert Einstein as born on March 14, 1879? And of course there was also the sad news today that Stephen Hawkings passed away this morning. (Source) In honor of all of this I thought it was time to share the pile of science books I have been collecting!! We will look at experiments, the human body, pinball, dinosaurs, underwater and space. Plus some of these books have ties to Women's History Month and more!! We will start with dinosaurs since chronologically that makes sense. The book is from the series Science Comics and it is Dinosaurs: Fossils and Feathers by M.K. Reed and illustrated by Joe Flood.

Fun Facts about Pie with Pie Recipes & Crafts Round-Up

What are you serving or having for Thanksgiving? Some of the traditional things are turkey (although there probably was not turkey at the "first" Thanksgiving) and pie. Since we have shared fun facts about turkeys and apples I thought we would share today a bit about pies. What is your favorite pie? I love blueberry!! Steve and Hazel love apple. 

Heart & Fairy Crafts -- Crafty Weekends Link Party

Disclosure:  This post contains affiliate links, and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. Thanks for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

This month I have been working many weekends at the store. Hazel has been missing me quite a bit, so this weekend I devoted time to spend with her when I was not working. She wanted to have a pretend sleepover in our family room, so she set up her sleeping bags and made a pretend pizza and snacks. Then we played a card game and decided to do some crafts. She had gotten as a gift The Fairy Kit. 

Krazy for Christmas -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: I was sent this product to review free of charge. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.  The links are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of any purchases made through them at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

Now we all know that Krazy Glue works great at fixing broken things. In fact it is Steve's go to glue for fixing all the broken toys and things in our house. And I used it to fix Hazel's clay ornament that she made in her arts and crafts class at school the other week. The trunk of her Christmas tree fell off and her Christmas tree was her favorite ornament she made.

Mesmerizing Math -- Book Review

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Yesterday was the big math day known as Pi Day. It occurs on every March 14 since the irrational number pi is round off to be 3.14. And of course this year was even more special since if you round it off a few more digits later it is 3.1416 and thus the date 3/14/16 or March 14, 2016. Since I have already shared the Multicultural History of Pi, Activities for Pi Day and Where Pi is Taking Us in past years, I did not share any new Pi Day post. However it seems appropriate to share a fun math book this week with you. Now last week I shared a book comparing the Eastern parenting styles to the Western parenting styles and asked the question of why many Asians perform better in math and science fields than non-Asians. One of the big answers was that the Asian parents really push math at a young age. The book also discussed that the use of exploring mathematics does not work for all children and that in the Asian culture children are taught how to do the math and have it drilled in to their heads with worksheets and such. This book does not do that. In fact I would say Mesmerizing Math by Jonathan Litton and illustrated by Thomas Flintham is the perfect book that will let kids explore some of the more fun aspects of math. 

Mathematical Dates & Exponents -- Math Lesson

As I was listening to the radio today I heard the deejay talk about the special date today and I'll admit it had not occurred to me. However I realized it was the perfect time for some math lessons!! Some dates are special mathematically. Many people enjoy the sequential ones like December 13, 2015 (12/13/14). However there are other special dates. February 4, 2016 is a special one. When it is written in numbers it is 2-4-16. Can you find the relationship?

Math of India -- Global Learning for Kids

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of Indian Children's Favorite Stories free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

This month we are exploring India as part of the Global Learning for Kids series. Today I thought I would focus on some Indian mathematicians and an Indian mathematical folk tale. Last month I shared the history of zero and the role the Indians played in it. First we will explore a few of the same mathematicians, Aryabhata and Brahmagupta, and introduce another Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan. The Indians had a huge influence on our current number system and mathematics. Although it was the Arabs who took their number system and made it famous.

Sharing Saturday 15-11

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! Once again I am amazed to see such creative ideas. If you have not had a chance to check them out, you definitely need to. They are so inspiring!! The features are just a small sampling of what there is. This week's features are Party Foods, Kites and Easter, Raising Girls, Art, Lessons and Crafts.

Multicultural History of Pi

Mathematicians around the world celebrate the number pi on March 14 every year. This year is a very special year and is being called the pi day of the century because besides the date the year gives more digits of accuracy and if you look at time of the day to the second you can go nine digits after the decimal point for your celebration! Various celebrations are planned around the world including in Chicago, MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Arizona, New Jersey, and San Francisco (where the first Pi Day Celebration was held).

Pi is a very special number in our world. It is a number that has been explored for thousands of years in just about every culture. Why? Because people wanted to learn about their world and started to realize that the same number kept appearing when taking the circumference of a circle (distance around the circle) and divide it by the diameter (distance across the circle through the center). The Babylonians and Egyptians were the first known to start the hunt for pi about 4000 years ago. Some say they figured out the ratio of a circle's circumference to diameter is slightly bigger than three or about 3 1/8. 

March Happenings & Announcements

March is coming in a like a lion in New England with yet another snow storm predicted today/tonight and another storm later this week. We may actually beat the record in Boston for the snowiest season ever (I think we need 5.5 inches now to do it). I know I cannot wait for spring!! Seeing this artwork in a yard we drove by really cheered me up. Hazel now wants to paint on our snow.

Math Lesson: M & M Statistics Lesson

Do you still have Halloween candy sitting around? We do. We gave out M&M's this year and had lots leftover. I always buy like we are going to have the number of trick-or-treaters we had a few years ago, but the numbers seem to be down. With all the leftover packages, I thought I would share a simple statistics lesson I use to use when I taught math. You may not know, but the colors of M&M's in a package is actually calculated by Mars, Incorporated. This lesson will involve division/percentages and averaging plus making a circle graph. There are also other extensions you can do with it. We did not do the whole lesson since Hazel is not ready for this kind of math. She did however help me gather the data from the M & M packages.

Frozen Fractals Lesson 2 and Olaf Craft

Last week I gave you an introduction to fractals in response to all the interpretations of frozen fractals from Disney's Frozen movie's song, "Let It Go." Today I thought I would continue my lesson on fractals. But first I wanted to share an easy craft to make an Olaf from the movie. Hazel got her Elsa and Anna dolls this week and she now wants the males so she can re-enact the entire movie. I told her we could make an Olaf. Looking at our supplies I came up with some styrofoam balls, a little bit of white and black Model Magic and some pipe cleaners (black and brown), googly eyes and an orange tear drop shaped foam piece. I cut the biggest and medium styrofoam balls in half and toothpicked them together. Then we used a small styrofoam ball and some of the white clay to make his head. We covered the other two balls as best we could with what we had left of the white clay. We did not have enough, but she didn't care. Then we used the black to form the buttons and mouth. I took a small piece of white for his tooth from the back. We added the brown pipe cleaners for arms and hair and then put the eyes on with tiny black pipe cleaner eye brows. The eyes and eye brows as well as the nose all needed to be glued on to get them to stick well.

Hazel is happy with how he turned out, so we will go with it. I will eventually get us some more white Magic Model to finish his bottom part and add the legs.

Now onto fractals. Last week we looked at the Koch Snowflake since we are talking frozen fractals. But I was thinking I should explain why study fractals besides to know what they are from a line in a song. Fractals are a very new thing in the math world. However they are being used in so many places and have been around forever. Fractals occur in nature and always have. Mathematicians and scientists somewhat ignored them for a long time due to how complex the shapes looked. For years we have simplified our shapes to fit into our cookie cutter basic shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, etc. However things like a fern are not a basic shape and when you simplify it to such you lose some of its elements.

"Barnsley fern plotted with VisSim" by DSP-user - Own work, using model written by Mike Borrello This chart was created with VisSim.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

As we learn more about fractals we are finding more uses for them. For those who remember Encyclopedia Encarta, the pictures on this CD were developed by programs written to make fractals similar to the wanted picture. Fractals are used in making movie backgrounds, video games as well as being explored in medicine. The lungs are now realized to be fractals as well as our blood vessels (veins and arteries). The more we learn about fractals in the human body the better our medical science will be.

"Thorax Lung 3d (2)" by AndreasHeinemann at Zeppelinzentrum Karlsruhe, Germany http://www.rad-zep.de - http://www.rad-zep.de. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

We will talk today about one of the more basic fractals and one that is easy to create. I often had my geometry students create this fractal in different ways. It is a wonderful way to teach about measuring, as well as midsegments of triangles. We are going to make a Sierpinski Triangle or sometimes called the Sierpinski Gasket. To start you need a triangle. You can use any triangle. Most commonly used are equilateral triangles, but any will work.

Now the rule is to draw the three midsegments of the triangle. A midsegment is a line segment that connects the midpoints of two sides of triangle. Its properties are that it is parallel to the third side and its length is equal to half the length of the third side.

The final part of the rule is to remove the triangle formed by the midsegments. To remove it, we will color it in.

Now we continue to the next stage by doing the same thing for all the non-colored in (nonremoved) triangles.

Sorry for some reason I did not take a picture of Stage 2 with the triangles removed. We continue our rule for Stage 3.

Finally we have Stage 3 which is where I stopped since I was not feeling well and I was getting a bit of a headache. However you can see how the rule can be applied infinitely as with all fractals.

The Sierpinski Triangle is also a great fractal to explore self-similarity. In the one below you can see how each color represents a shape that looks like the whole.

"Sierpinski-rgb". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.


The one below is zooming into magnify the smaller parts of the Sierpinski Triangle to show its infinite range. 

"Sierpinski zoom" by Mariko GODA - Own work.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Finally I want to share with you a Sierpinski Pyramid that we made in one of the summer classes I took at Yale. We made it by forming regular tetrahedrons from envelopes. I do not totally remember how now, but thought it was neat to share.

 A true Sierpinski Pyramid would have a hole in the middle, but that is not easy to construct in actual life. Here is one I found on-line.


"Sierpinski pyramid". Licensed under Public domain 
via Wikimedia Commons.

Finally if you want to learn more about fractals in nature and the importance of them, check out this video of the Yale professor, Michael Frame, who taught the courses I took on fractals. He ends it with a story about the amazing late Benoit Mandelbrot (last week I shared a picture of myself with Mandelbrot) and about how fractals are about storytelling as is most math and science. It is really worth watching. On that note a talk about fractals is not complete without looking at the Mandelbrot Set. The math involved is more advanced, however it is beautiful to look at.

"Mandelbrot set with coloured environment". Licensed under  
CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

For some more on fractals check out:

• Happy Pi Day
• What Are Frozen Fractals?
• My Math Pinterest Board