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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. 

The Sparkle Egg -- Easter Book Review

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Ideals Books. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

I am so excited to share this book with you. You may remember that I shared The Sparkle Box by Jill Hardie and illustrated by Christine Kornacki on my Must Read Christmas Books Post. Well, last year Jill Hardie and Christine Kornacki came out with The Sparkle Egg for Easter! When we received it in the mail, Hazel wanted to read it right away. This story is about the same family as The Sparkle Box. This time Sam does something he is ashamed of, he lies to his parents about how he did on a test at school. Even though his parents forgive him he still feels really bad. Boy, does this sound familiar. This is exactly how Hazel behaves. Well, his mother has him make a sparkle egg on Good Friday. Sam draws a picture of something he is ashamed of or feels he needs to ask God to forgive him and puts it inside his sparkle egg. Then on Easter the sparkle egg is in his basket and it is empty! His parents explain that holding on to shame after being forgiven goes against what Easter is about. It is such a deep message in a way that kids can understand. Hazel could not wait to make a sparkle egg. I gave her a plastic egg and she got to work with glitter glue.

Sharing Saturday 15-10


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Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! There were so many great ideas. I had a hard time choosing features, but with all the snow outside, I am ready for spring. So my features this week are Rainbows and St. Patrick's Day and a few of My Favorites. Be sure to check back at last week's party for even more in these themes. This is just a sampling.

Easter Baskets for American Girl Dolls

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.


We have been getting ready for Easter with Hazel's dolls. We had a lot of fun filling baskets for them. Most of the supplies including the baskets came from Oriental Trading. We found a few other items elsewhere. Hazel kept making baskets while I took some pictures. She really was enjoying making them. 

Hypatia Multicultural Mathematics in Women's History Month


This week I thought I would share with you one of the first known women mathematicians as part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Women's History Month Series and my Multicultural Mathematics. Be sure to visit the  main page of the Women's History Month Series to see all of the posts and link up your own!

http://multiculturalkidblogs.com/womens-history-month-series/