When you live with a math fanatic March 14th is a big day. And, this year it looks like it will be the best ever! It is Pi Day and we are going to celebrate. I first learned of Pi day from my daughter Mee Mee who loves all things math. Since we enjoy all holidays we decided to do this one right.
According to Scientific America if there was ever a year to commemorate Pi Day in a big way, this is it. The date of this Saturday—3/14/15—gives us not just the first three digits (as in most years) but the first five digits of pi, the famous irrational number 3.141592653… that expresses the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.
How does one celebrate Pi Day? With Pie, of course.
Start with these cute, easy-to-make, little breakfast pies from Sumo’s Sweet Stuff.
Then, do a happy dance and sing a Pi song at 9:26.53 (3.141592653)
After that you’ll be ready to read a story about Pie. This is the one we’re choosing this year:
UGLY PIE by Lisa Wheeler (author) and Heather Solomon (illustrator) follows Ol’ Bear who wakes up one morning with a hankerin’ for pie. Not just any pie. Ugly Pie. Ol’ bear has molasses but definitely needs other ingredients so he visits his neighbors and eventually gathers everything he needs to make ugly pie.
The book includes the recipe that we decided to try. (A crust recipe was included but I just couldn’t bring myself to use lard so I used pre-made crust from Trader Joe’s. I crumbled some of the dough with flour and put it in pieces over the top of the filling.)
Like Ol’ Bear, I gathered ingredients from friends. I’m sending thanks to my sister Jeanne for lemons, the Chooljians at Del Rey Packing for the raisins, Mary at Souza Farms for the walnuts, and Kingsburg Apple for apples!
Neal is ready to pop the ugly pie in the oven.
I’m proud to tell you that the pie came out really ugly but it was tasty.
Next, make a Pi-napple Pizza for lunch. My nephew Neal and I used refrigerated pizza dough as the base and added toppings.
Shepherd’ Pie from Our Small Hours blog would be perfect for dinner followed by a strawberry pie for dessert with the new crop of strawberries appearing at farmers’ markets.
Did you know that 3.14 is also Einstein’s birthday?
This is a fun biography about our favorite physicist:
I AM ALBERT EINSTEIN by Brad Meltzer (author) and Christopher Eliopoulos (illustrator) is written as a first person account of the famous scientist and is a good introduction for young children. This simply told biography emphasizes how Einstein’s curiosity and persistence led to his amazing discoveries. The text is humorous with many speech bubbles and the illustrations are comical and fun.
Many places are having Pi Day celebrations I think one of the best will be at the San Francisco Exploratorium. Not only will admission be free but the day is organized by the originator of Pi Day, physicist Larry Shaw. For those not in the SF Bay area, you can participate by going to the Exploratorium website.
There’s all sorts of Pi shirts and jewelry. I think this print by Nicole Martinez would be good for a math classroom:
There are many Pi Day activities on Pinterest. This Pi bracelet from Momgineer’s blog would be super easy for kids to make.
I’ve gathered a number of ideas on my Pinterest Pi page if you are interested in seeing what some other creative people are doing to celebrate.
How will you be celebrating this epic mathematical day?
Great post, Claire! You know that math and me aren’t best friends, right? So I had no idea bout March 14, 2015 being this big math event. But I LOVE pies, so the book and recipe sound terrific. Love the photos you use. Really cool post. See you!
This event only occurs in the U.S. and Belize because other countries write the date as 14/3/15 so you wouldn’t get to celebrate in France. Do your children know about Pi Day?