Pizza, then Pi and finally Pies — What More Can You Want on a Well-Rounded Pi Day?

Estimating how far a bike wheel will roll in 2.5 revolutions.

Monday, March 14 is Pi Day (3.14) -- but not just any π day, it was a Well-Rounded π Day because it is 2016:  3.14.16!  3.159… rounds off to 3.16.  What better excuse is there to have a celebration of math with middle schoolers than π?     

Drawing a circle using an inscribed triangle in a circle.

Last Friday night, well over 250 students, parents, teachers, and volunteers  from the high school, PTA and community, celebrated π  at the East Somerville Community School by eating pizza for dinner, then spending an evening estimating, creating, collecting data, answering questions, and ending with pies for everyone. 

Pitching pennies to determine which is a more challenging target
the circle in a square or the square in a circle.

After enjoying pizza donated by the Bickoff family of the Commercial Cleaning Service (discounted by White Sport), the students from ESCS, who were joined by students from Healey, Argenziano, West Somerville, and Brown schools went around to a wide variety of math activities set up in the gym.  

Making Pi Buttons

These activities included: bicycle wheel roll, guessing contest, tooth pick drop (Buffon Needle problem), drawing a circle the size of a CD, mystery boxes, π button design, π facts quiz, birthday in π, circle in square vs square in circle, drawing cardioid or nephroid, drawing concentric circles by folding, drawing circles by tangents, drawing circle by right angles, predicting how high of a pour, graphing circumference vs diameter, predicting circumferences in mm by feel of objects in mystery boxes, and predicting volume in cubic cm. of various spheres.

Drawing a circle using tangents.

The event was planned by Scott Weaver (ESCS), Wil Jacques (Healey), and Erica Voolich (Somerville Mathematics Fund).  Table Talk Pies of Worcester generously supplied small pies for all who came that night and large pies for the winners of events.  Table Talk has generously supported this Somerville Math Fund event for thirteen years. 

Tossing toothpicks to calculate pi using Buffon's Needle formula.

When planning the first SMF π Night in 2003, the Math Fund called the Table Talk Pi Company and explained what π day was and Table Talk generously donated large pies for prizes and small pies for everyone.  Thirteen years later, Table Talk Pies is not only still donating to the the Somerville Pi night celebration, but to many more celebrations.   In fact, this year Table Talk donated than 47,242 pies to schools and organizations celebrating pi day.

Taking a quiz on Pi Facts.

A big thank you to all the volunteers and donors who made this fun, educational evening possible.  It takes a community to celebrate π day!

Graphing circumference vs diameter using various sized circles.

Drawing circles using inscribed triangles.

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, was founded in 2000 with the mission to celebrate and encourage mathematics achievement in Somerville MA.  In April they will be looking for applications for renewable college mathematics scholarships.  For more information or to make a donation or to volunteer, www.somervillemathematicsfund.org or mathfund@gmail.com or call 617-666-0666.

Drawing cardioids and nephroids using lines.

The link to this post is http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2016/03/pizza-then-pi-and-finally-pies-what.html

©Erica Dakin Voolich 2016

Pizza, then Pi and finally Pies — What More Can You Want on Ultimate Pi Day?

Drawing a nephroid with straight lines

Saturday, March 14 was Pi Day (3.14) -- but not just any π Day, it was Ultimate π Day because it is 2015:  3.14.15!  What better excuse is there to have a celebration of math with middle schoolers than π?     Well over 200 students, parents, teachers, and volunteers  from the high school, PTA and community, celebrated π  at the Healey School by eating pizza for dinner, then spending an evening estimating, creating, collecting data, answering questions, and ending with pies for everyone.

Graphing Diameter vs Circumference

After enjoying pizza donated by the Bickoff family (discounted by White Sport), the students from Healey, who were joined by students from East Somerville Community School (ESCS), and Argenziano schools went around to a wide variety of math activities set up in the gym and cafeteria.

Drawing circles using tangents.

These activities included: bicycle wheel roll, guessing contest, tooth pick drop (Buffon Needle problem), drawing a circle the size of a CD, mystery boxes, π button design, π facts quiz, birthday in π, circle in square vs square in circle, drawing cardioid or nephroid, drawing concentric circles by folding, drawing circles by tangents, drawing circle by right angles, predicting how high of a pour, predicting circumferences and radii, and graphing circumference vs diameter.

Pitching pennies to determine a better target:
a circle in a square or a square in a circle.

The event was planned by Wil Jacques (Healey), Scott Weaver (ESCS), and Erica Voolich (Somerville Mathematics Fund).  Table Talk Pies of Worcester generously supplied small pies for all who came that night and large pies for winners of events.  Table Talk has generously supported this Somerville Math Fund event for twelve years.  Star Market/Shaws (Beacon Street) generously donated most of the juice.

Drawing a cardioid using straight lines.

When planning the first SMF π Night in 2003, the Math Fund called the Table Talk Pi Company and explained what π day was and Table Talk generously donated large pies for prizes and small pies for everyone.  Eleven years later, Table Talk Pies is not only still donating to the the Somerville Pi night celebration, but to many more celebrations.   In fact, this year Table Talk donated more than 43,000 pies to schools celebrating pi day.

Taking a π facts quiz.

A big thank you to all the volunteers and donors who made this fun, educational evening possible.  It takes a community to celebrate π day!

Estimating circumference in mm by feel.

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, was founded in 2000 with the mission to celebrate and encourage mathematics achievement in Somerville MA.  In April they will be looking for applications for college mathematics scholarships.  For more information or to make a donation or to volunteer, www.somervillemathematicsfund.org or mathfund@gmail.com or call 617-666-0666.

The link to the page is http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2015/03/pizza-then-pi-and-finally-pies-what.html
©2015, Erica Dakin Voolich

Pizza, then Pi and finally Pies — What More Can You Want on Pi Day?

Looking up during π night --
above the activities in the entry foyer was a plethora of circles
beneath students are estimating the circumference of circles by feel
and estimating the number of circular objects in each jar.

Friday, March 14 was Pi Day (3.14). What better excuse is there to have a celebration of math with middle schoolers than π?     About three hundred fifty students, parents, teachers, and volunteers from the high school, PTA and community, celebrated π  at the East Somerville Community School (ESCS) by eating pizza for dinner, then spending an evening estimating, creating, collecting data, answering questions, and ending with pies for everyone and π pencils for the students. 

Drawing a cardioid or nephroid using straight lines.

After enjoying pizza donated by the Bickoff family (discounted by White Sport), the students from East Somerville, who were joined by students from Healey, Argenziano, West Somerville, Brown and Kennedy schools went around to a wide variety of math activities set up in the halls, foyers and auditorium.  These activities included: bicycle wheel roll, guessing contest, tooth pick drop (Buffon Needle problem), drawing a circle the size of a CD, mystery boxes, π button design, π facts quiz, birthday in π, circle in square vs square in circle, drawing cardiod or nephroid, drawing concentric circles by folding, drawing circles by tangents, drawing circle by right angles, reciting digits of π, predicting how high of a pour, predicting circumferences and radii, graphing circumference vs diameter.

Estimating how far a wheel will go on 1.5 and 2.5 rotations.

The event was planned by Scott Weaver (ESCS), Wil Jacques (Healey), Erica Voolich (Somerville Mathematics Fund) and Lindsay Garofalo (ESCS).  Table Talk Pies of Worcester generously supplied small pies for all who came that night and large pies for winners of events.  Table Talk has generously supported this Somerville Math Fund event for eleven years.  Star Market/Shaws (Beacon Street) generously donated most of the juice.

Estimating the number of pieces of round candy in the jar.

Pi Night was sponsored by the Somerville Mathematics Fund.  This year, East Somerville students returned to their rebuilt ESCS building after their long hiatus after the fire which had destroyed their school building.  It seemed appropriate for π night to also return to the ESCS building— the location of the original Somerville Math Fund Pi Night in 2003, planned by Wil Jacques, Mary McClelland, Colleen Murphy and Erica Voolich.

Estimating the volume and surface area
 of three different sized globes.

When planning the first SMF π Night, the Math Fund called the Table Talk Pi Company and explained what π day was and Table Talk generously donated large pies for prizes and small pies for everyone.  Eleven years later, Table Talk Pies is not only still donating to the the Somerville Pi night celebration, but to many more.   In fact, this year Table Talk donated 43,000 pies to schools celebrating pi day.

Students put "Happy π Day from Table Talk" stickers
 on the pies before the π night celebration.

A big thank you to all the volunteers and donors who made this fun, educational evening possible.  It takes a community to celebrate π day!

Pitching pennies to see which is the more difficult target
aiming for the space between the circle and the square. 

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, an affiliate of the national scholarship organization Dollars for Scholars.  They were founded in 2000 with the mission to celebrate and encourage mathematics achievement in Somerville MA.  In April they will be looking for applications for college mathematics scholarships.  For more information, www.somervillemathematicsfund.org or mathfund@gmail.com or call 617-666-0666.

Taking a quiz on π facts.

©Erica Dakin Voolich 2014

The link to this post is http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2014/03/pizza-then-pi-and-finally-pies-what.html

Math Nights and Afternoons here, there and everywhere!

math games are exciting

One of my dreams when I started the Somerville Mathematics Fund eleven years ago was to see children excited about math and doing math activities together and with their parents.  The Somerville Math Fund is an affiliate of Dollars for Scholars and so clearly we are a scholarship organization.  However, long before high school, children need to be getting ready for those scholarships and so it is important for kids to learn to think mathematically.  

In each of the descriptions below, I have linked the newspaper coverage to the school's name -- go read all about the fun that was had and what students were learning.  As other articles are published, I will update this with links.

For all of these events, the Bickoff family has generously donated pizza.  This had made it possible for families to come to school for a wonderful event with their children even though they tend to conflict with dinner time.

At the end of evening of the K-6th math nights, families go home with activities and materials they use together at home.  The math fund grants pay for these materials along with the "math prizes" at some and the games students play at the events.

I have been visiting math fund funded events all over the city.  The first one was at West Somerville Neighborhood School in February.  After pizza was eaten, the tables were cleared and set up.  This K-6th event had different games and activities by grade but students could try other tables after completing their own activities.  Usually math nights start in the spring but our unusually warm winter allowed this fun night with no snow or ice challenges.

strategies take thought ...  

do you think you control those dice?

The next math night was the K-2nd Argenziano School math night.  This is Agenziano's first year winning a Somerville Mathematics Fund grant for math nights and the teachers ran it as if they had been doing this for years.  They had a wonderfully exciting math night.

rolling the dice for a game on the hundreds board

While a pizza dinner was served on one side of the room, the other side had active math activities led by sixth graders and math games led by teachers.  Once people had eaten, the rest of the cafeteria was setup for games and activities by grade level.  There were many excited intensely involved students along with their parents.  

Later in that same week, middle school students from Healey, Brown, East Somerville Community School at Cummings and West Somerville Neighborhood School celebrated Pi Night at the Healey School.  I coplanned this π event with Wil Jacques, Jack O'Keefe, Theresa MacVicar, Annette Fiori Bassett and Scott Walker. Not only did we have pizza but Table Talk Pies donated large pies for prizes and small pies for everyone. We had community volunteers and wonderful high school students help with each activity.

collecting data: which  is the better target? a 

circle in a square or a square in a circle ... later in math 

class calculations are made to compare experimental 

with theoretical probability

Some activities collected data, some were estimation, other made things.  Always popular is to make are the π Buttons.  Students also made line drawings that produced various curves, circles, nephroids and cardioids.  Students always love the estimating activities.  These included estimating the sizes of circular things around the room, the number of round objects in a jar, estimating by feel and even estimating how far one and a half revolutions of a bike tire will end up.  The data collecting includes comparing targets and collecting tooth pick drops to calculate π (Buffon's Needle problem).  Some students even shared their rap about π.

signing his name on the line predicting where the 

bike wheel will end up

feeling a circular object and estimating the 

circumference in cm

drawing a circle by drawing lines 

(actually tangents to the "circle" which appears)

April has brought four more events.  The first at Winter Hill, then Argenziano and finally two at East Somerville Community School at Edgerly on consecutive days.

The 3rd - 5th Math Night at Winter Hill started with pizza and then the cafeteria tables were cleared for the activities.  Tables were devoted to particular grade levels where students and parents played games together that are related to the classroom curriculum and some others that they can play at home.  There were also games for all levels at one end of the room, a graph collecting data from everyone at the other end, and estimation jars along the side.

Playing a fraction calculation game

The 3rd - 5th Argenziano math night followed the same format as their earlier math night, except this time the grade level for the activities and challenge level of the games changed.

Making sets of proportional fraction cards to use at home

I watched a wonderful moment where a mother and daughter were playing Mankalla and teaching a teacher a variation on the game that they play at home (they block off part of the holes and this makes the game a different strategy challenge). 

blocking part of the Mankalla holes with a cellphone

to make the game more challenging

measuring up

a game using money

Yesterday,  I went to the East Somerville Community School (ESCS) at Edgerly's math event for 2nd-4th.  This year they expanded it to include 2nd grade.  The format is a bit different at ESCS in that they start with the math activity right after school and end with the pizza.  Again, they had games and activities in various rooms, with individual halls devoted to each grade.

learning a new strategy game

Every year, the ESCS math night includes a time for parents to learn something about how math is taught and what they can do to help their children at home,

playing Bump

two cars racing down the ramp ...

One of the activities had 2 students release 2 cars down a ramp at the same time.  Then they had to estimate the distance the car traveled before they could measure it.








The math night at ESCS yesterday was followed by 3rd grade Test Success Day today.  Since the students have never taken MCAS exams prior to 3rd grade, they came to school today to take a practice test (last year's math exam) with either a parent or with a 7th or 8th grader.

 They started with breakfast, ran around in the gym and then tried the sample test while talking through the problems as they did them.  After the test, they learned the new games their parents learned while they were in the gym and then ended with a pizza lunch, and left with gift bags of math supplies.

The session for the parents included information on testing and gave them some math activities they can do at home to help their students. 

This is not the end of the math nights for this year.  Stay tuned to learn about Winter Hill's K-2nd math night and Healey's K-2nd in May and June.  If you have never had the fun of volunteering at a math night, contact me at mathfund@gmail.com to get details about the Healey School Math Night.


©2012, Erica Dakin Voolich
The link for this page is: http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2012/04/math-nights-and-afternoons-here-there.html

After-School Math Fun at East Somerville Community School

While I was working with teachers at the Healey School to set up our Pi Night celebration (see the next Blog article), the teachers at the East Somerville Community School at Edgerly were holding their math night organized by Linda Wiegenfeld.

Delia Marshall wrote a wonderful article about the activities for the students and for the parents:
Math Fun at East Somerville School.
Take some time to read about all the wonderful things that are happening there.

East Somerville Community School's Math Night

On March 26th, I had the pleasure of attending this year's East Somerville Community School Math event. While teacher and organizer, Linda Wiegenfeld, was teaching the parents and answering their questions, their children were playing mathematical games led by other teacher volunteers.

The parents were interested in learning other ways to approach topics such as division and in having their questions answered about math topics they never learned while in school, such as "outliers." It was interesting to see parents who had grown-up in other countries approached division with different algorithms than those of us who grew up in the US schools. Meanwhile, Linda Wiegenfeld was teaching yet another way to approach division, one that was more intuitive and representative of what is actually happening when you divide.

After joining the parents group for a while, I also visited the rooms where the students were playing mathematical games and enjoyed a game of Mancala with a couple of girls after watching students energetically playing a game of "baseball" using dice.

The event ended with everyone eating pizza, generously donated by the Bickoff family. Linda Wiegenfeld was a Somerville Mathematics Fund teacher grant winner who used her grant money to support this event and to buy the games that she also uses in her classroom at ESCS.

Be sure to read Delia Marshall's article on this event in the Somerville Journal.

Spring is here and so are More Math Nights!

If you haven’t attended or volunteered at a math night, you’ve missed out on a wonderful intergenerational event. For years, I’ve tried to attend these events when I know about them ahead of time. In March, I was able to get to at least part of the West Somerville Neighborhood School celebration but, unfortunately, not to the East Somerville Community School celebration. Of course, I attended the celebration of Pi described in this blog below in “The Somerville Community Celebrates Pi Day” since I was one of the co-planners of that evening.

However this year, Delia Marshall was able to get to each of these events and has written about them on the Somerville Journal website . The West Somerville Neighborhood School K-2nd family math night, organized by Annette Bassett, was “packed to the gills.” One could hardly move around the cafeteria were kids were intently playing mathematical games with parents and a few grandparents. There was excitement in the air as the children tried to teach their parents how to play. All the activities were mathematically based--everything from using basic counting and computational skills to geometry to strategy. You can read all about it, “Big Numbers at WSNS Night” in the article by Delia Marshall.

The next day, the East Somerville Community School held its celebration of math for 3rd and 4th grade families organized by Linda Wiegenfeld and Laura Bonnell. This well-attended event had a slightly different format. While the students played mathematical games and worked on mathematical challenges, the parents learned about their children’s math --contrasting it to their own experiences and learning how to help their children now. This reminded me of one of the first math grants The Somerville Mathematics Fund awarded, back in 2001 to Mary McClellan for a mathematical resource lending library for middle school parents at the East Somerville Community School--parents wanted, but weren’t always sure, how to help their children in mathematics, today’s math was so different from their own school experiences--a different creative response to a similar problem. Last year I attended the ESCS math event and, if this was anything like that afternoon, it was an experience well-worthwhile for everyone ... high energy excitement about mathematics. Delia Marshall captures the spirit and details of the event in “March Mathness” at ESCS.

At each of these events, many teachers at each school came out and volunteered their own time for an exciting math event outside of the regular school day which gave families a better understanding of what their children were doing mathematically and how they might help, encourage and play with their children.

If you’d like attend a family math night, there are two events still to occur this spring (readers, please let me know about any others). At least one, I know, always welcomes volunteers; so let me know if you are interested in volunteering (voolich@aol.com).

Two Teachers who are excited about math win "Teacher of the Year" awards from the Somerville Teachers Association

By Erica Dakin Voolich

Fourth grade teachers Linda Wiegenfeld from the East Somerville Community School at Edgerly and Fran Carino from the Winter Hill Community School were each named Teacher of the Year by the Somerville Teachers Association in March. Fran is a Mathematics Curriculum Leader and each participants in the LEGO Project at Tufts University to introduce LEGOes as a way to teach science to elementary students. Linda is also a teacher winner of Somerville Mathematics Fund teacher grants supporting the mathematics work she is doing at ESCS.

When asked about receiving the award, Linda said
“I was honored to receive the award of Teacher of the Year. It was of special significance to me that the award covered the year of the fire - a very difficult year. I've been teaching for a long time but still haven't lost my passion for education. I love working in Somerville, where there have been so many opportunities to explore new ways to help students. My current projects are working with the special education inclusion committee, participating in a program from Tufts University to use LEGOes in the classroom to teach science, and serving as a Curriculum Team Leader. I occasionally write educational articles for a newspaper called The Epoch Times. I feel very lucky to have a job that suits my personality and where I can make a difference.”

and Fran said:
“I am also very proud of this award. For most of my teaching career I have taught in Somerville. Currently, I teach 4th grade at the WHCS. I am the Math Curriculum Team Leader and the PTA Treasurer. In all three roles I am able to reach out to our parents helping them to be involved in their children's education on a daily basis. As I mentioned at the award ceremony, I grew up in Somerville and my inspiration to teach came from two Somerville teachers, my kindergarten and fifth grade teachers, Mrs. Rita Fitzpatick and Mr. Paul Coakley, respectively. I hope that in my role as teacher I can inspire my students to reach for their dreams and to work hard to fulfill them.”

It is wonderful to have Somerville teachers who are excited about mathematics, winning awards for the work they are doing in our community.

Somerville Mathematics Fund offers scholarships

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, an affiliate of Dollars for Scholars, offers renewable mathematics scholarships for outstanding high school seniors and to college students who lived in Somerville MA while attending high school. The applications should be postmarked by 11 April 2009.
To get an application, go to The Somerville Mathematics Fund web site or e-mail voolich@aol.com.