101 Questions
Rotonda West, FL
The shortest distance from point A to point B is a straight line—or is it? Young scholars determine the shortest route either along a circular path or through the center of the circle. Learners gain a unique perspective on arc length and...
American Heart Association
Pi Day
Did you know a mathematician's favorite dessert is a fruit "pi"? By participating in a fruit cutting activity, young mathematicians realize one constant—the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is always pi. It is a perfect...
101 Questions
Penny Circle
Watch as your classes buy into a rich lesson full of information. A video opener challenges individuals to determine the number of pennies that fit in a circle with a 22-inch diameter. Using lesson materials, scholars collect data and...
Noyce Foundation
Circular Reasoning
Examine the origin and application of pi in five different levels. The five lessons in the resource begin with an analysis of the relationship between the radius and circumference of a circle. The following lessons lead learners through...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Pi Day Fun!
In this multi-faceted introduction to pi, participants perform a bevy of pi-related activities. Ranging from measuring household items to singing pi songs and reading pi stories, this fun and non-intimidating resource serves to bring up...
101 Questions
Wedding Cake Ribbon
Customers often want ribbon around fancy cakes, but how does a baker know how much ribbon to buy? Scholars view a cake with multiple layers in different geometric shapes. They must figure the perimeter and circumference and add them...
Curated OER
Measuring the Area of a Circle
When mathematical errors happen, part of the learning is to figure out how it affects the rest of your calculations. The activity has your mathematicians solving for the area of a circular pipe and taking into consideration any errors...
101 Questions
Car Caravan
Keep playing with those old toy cars! Pupils estimate the number of toy cars in an art installation. The only information they receive is a picture showing the toy cars arranged in concentric rings and the diameter of the overall...
101 Questions
Suitcase Circle
Analyze patterns in a circular arrangement. After using a geometric construction to complete a circle, learners use proportional reasoning to make predictions. By determining the length of an arc built from suitcases, they estimate the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Running Around a Track II
On your mark, get set, GO! The class sprints toward the conclusions in a race analysis activity. The staggered start of the 400-m foot race is taken apart in detail, and then learners step back and develop some overall race strategy...
Didax
Pi Day #1a – Discovering Pi
Unravel the mystery behind the infamous number pi. Scholars complete a series of activities that explores where pi comes from, its digits and estimation strategies. Pupils should be ready to measure, calculate, and look for patterns to...
Mrs. Burke's Math Page
The Amazing Pi Race
Add a sense of excitement to your math class with this race across the country. Using their knowledge of all things circular, young mathematicians work in pairs answering a series of pi-related word problems as they hop from one city to...
Mrs. Burke's Math Page
Let Them Eat Pi
Looking for a fun and creative way to celebrate Pi Day? Then this is the resource for you. From a scavenger hunt and trivia contest to PowerPoint presentations and skills practice worksheets, this collection of materials is a...
Curated OER
Task: Grain Storage
Farming is full of mathematics, and it provides numerous real-world examples for young mathematicians to study. Here, we look at a cylinder-shaped storage silo that has one flat side. Given certain dimensions, students need to determine...
Illustrative Mathematics
Seven Circles III
A basic set-up leads to a surprisingly complex analysis in this variation on the question of surrounding a central circle with a ring of touching circles. Useful for putting trigonometric functions in a physical context, as well as...
Scholastic
Lesson One: The Earth, Background and Glossary
How much do you really know about our planet? Middle schoolers build up their prior knowledge about Earth, its placement in the solar system, its composition, and important geological vocabulary with an introductory earth science lesson.
101 Questions
You Pour, I Choose
Tall and skinny or short and stout, which glass hold the most liquid? Learners analyze dimensions of cylindrical glasses to determine the one holding the greatest amount of liquid. They brainstorm the relevant dimensions before making...
Curated OER
Life in a Geometrical Town
In this geometry worksheet, students create a map that uses various geometrical concepts. The final project is the creation of a "geometrical town." Rubric for grading is included.
Curated OER
Shgar Cube Igloo
Students create a sugar cube igloo. In this art activity, students use sugar cubes to create an igloo. Students glue the cubes together, dust with sugar and allow the project to dry.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Radius, Diameter, and Circumference of a Circle
In this activity, students will learn the basic concepts of the circle. They explore the relationship between the diameter and the radius, and between the diameter and circumference of a circle. They also get familiar with the Greek...
Discovery Education
Discovery Education: Web Math: Find Out Things About Circles
This WebMath site will assist with finding the radius, diameter, circumference, and area of a circle.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Discovering Pi
Students will measure the circumference and diameter of round objects. They will send in their measurements through TI-Navigator and discover the relationship between the circumference and diameter.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Circle Around
In this activity, students compute the circumference and area of circles. They understand that the ratio of the circumference to the diameter is a value called pi. [Requires Adobe Reader.]
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Approximation of Pi
Students will measure the circumference and diameter of a variety of different circles. They will graph the class' values of (d,c) on the coordinate plane and use linear regression to approximate pi.