Elementary students measure, eat pie for pi day

The fourth-graders of Linda Hackmann's class kicked off their pi-centered lesson by measuring a hula-hoop. Students Mason Sheets, Seth Brown, Kayc Horton and Aaron Corey enjoyed an apple pie in celebration of the mathematical day.
The fourth-graders of Linda Hackmann's class kicked off their pi-centered lesson by measuring a hula-hoop. Students Mason Sheets, Seth Brown, Kayc Horton and Aaron Corey enjoyed an apple pie in celebration of the mathematical day.

Pi was on the mind of four Bartley Elementary students Tuesday.

March 14, or "Pi day," is a date used by teachers and mathematicians to celebrate one specific number. The date (3/14) corresponds to the mathematical constant (3.14), which is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.

To celebrate, teacher Linda Hackmann sat down with a few of her fourth-graders for some math and a snack.

"What's it called when we measure all the way around?" Hackmann asked, prompting the students while running twine around a hula-hoop. "The cir?"

"Circumference," a student said enthusiastically.

"And what do we measure next?" Hackmann said, placing another length of twin across the hula-hoop. "The di?"

"Diameter," another student said, prompt with his correct answer.

Next, Hackmann had her students measured the two lengths of twine with a tape measure.

"This is a team effort," she said. "Now, the first piece of string was 81 inches, and the second was 26. What do we get when we divide 81 by 26?"

Aaron Corey, the student assigned the calculator, crunched the numbers.

"We get 3.115," he said. "That's close."

"Close, but not exact," Hackmann responded.



The students second chance brought a sweet surprise, as Hackmann produced a sugar-free apple pie.

"We are going to measure this next," she said. "You think we should eat it, too?"

Of course, the students thought they should.

"We like to read, and we like to do fun things," Hackmann said. "And, we like to eat pie."

Again using twine, Hackmann assisted her students in measuring the pie.

"OK, this time the pie has a circumference of 22 inches and a diameter of 7 inches," she said. "What do we get this time when we divide them?"

"We get 3.14," Aaron said, cheering. "We did it."

In celebration, Hackmann cut a slice for each of the students, who got down to the tastiest part of the day.

"How appropriate," she said. "To eat pie for pi day."

"Yup," student Seth Brown said between bites. "Got any whipped cream?"