Happy Pi Day!
—
You can access your resources below.
6–12 resources
—
Circles and Pi
Take a deep drive into the mysterious number known as pi. Discover how pi relates to the makeup of all circles, how it’s calculated, and more about its history with a few fun facts.
Pi Day practice worksheet
Challenge students to use their knowledge of circles and pi to help judge a Pi Day baking contest! Students will review what they know about pi to identify the diameter, radius, and circumference of various-sized pies and determine whose pie is the largest.
Free Amplify Desmos Math lesson: Why Pi?
Try a free lesson from our new, K–12 math program, Amplify Desmos Math! In this lesson, students will explore why the formula for the area of a circle makes sense by relating a circle’s area to its circumference.
Pi Day Challenge in Desmos Classroom (Middle School)
In Circle Relationships, explore different relationships of parts of a circle: radius and diameter, diameter and circumference, and radius and area. Join middle school students and teachers nationwide for this exciting challenge!
Pi Day Challenge in Desmos Classroom (High School)
In Buffon’s Needle, approximate pi using a fun (but inefficient) method. Join high school students and teachers nationwide for this engaging math challenge!
K–5 resources
—
Although pi is often studied in later grades, Pi Day can be made interesting and delightful for K–5 students through the exploration of circles. Check out our introductory resources for elementary classrooms, including our new 3–5 Pi Day activity pack!
3–5 Pi Day activity pack
Discover new ways to introduce students to the concept of pi with fun, grade-appropriate activities. Students will attempt to draw a perfect circle, investigate and measure the parts of a circle, and practice their addition and multiplication skills.
Pi Day Challenge in Desmos Classroom (Elementary School)
In Drumming With Angles, students will think of a full circle as one bar of music, and each quadrant as a beat. With this setup, they'll investigate different sectors, compose beats of their own, and solve a variety of rhythmic challenges. Join K–5 students and teachers across the country in this exciting math challenge!
A dozen books for Pi Day
Interactive read-alouds are an engaging way to inspire ideas about circles, along with all the other wonderful things students might notice and wonder about in the respective stories.
Some of these stories were picked by Allison Hintz and Antony Smith from the University of Washington (who together have written about mathematizing children’s literature); others were chosen by Jenna Laib, a K–5 math specialist.
- Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews
- So Many Circles, So Many Squares by Tana Hoban
- Circle (The Shapes Trilogy) by Mac Barnett (author), Jon Klassen (illustrator)
- Circle! Sphere! by Grace Lin
- Round by Jennifer Ward (author), Lisa Congdon (illustrator)
- Round Is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Thong (author), John Parra (illustrator)
- Round Is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Thong (author), Grace Lin (illustrator)
- Lots of Dots by Craig Frazier
- This Is a Ball by Beck Stanton and Matt Stanton
- City Shapes by Diana Murray (author), Bryan Collier (illustrator)
- Flashlight by Lizi Boyd
- The Circles All Around Us by Brad Montague (author/ illustrator), Kristi Montague (illustrator)
If you would like to learn more about mathematizing children’s literature, be sure to check out this Math Teacher Lounge episode.
Contact us
Interested in learning more about Amplify Desmos Math? Visit amplify.com/math.
