Happy Pi Day! It’s a big one this year. If you write the value of pi as a date you get 3.1415 = 3/14/15. This is once in a hundred years! If you really want to celebrate correctly, you should have your party at 9:26:53, because pi is 3.141592653.
Yesterday at school, we had a contest to see which students could learn the most digits of pi. The whole student body had pie while they watched the competition. Many parents sent in pies. They were delicious! I was really impressed by the contestants. They all did a great job. There was a first grader who memorized 24 digits. The overall champion was a fifth grader who memorized 82 digits. Amazing!
Our competition was in three age brackets. I got prizes for the top contestants in each bracket: a Spin Art kit, a Spirograph kit, and a Perplexus puzzle ball. Any one who participated got a bouncy ball. Everything is round, because of pi. Get it? Ha!
I forgot to take a picture of the actual competition because I was too wrapped up in the excitement.
We had extra time after the competition, so I tried to teach everyone the Friday the Thirteenth song. Everyone could sing it in unison, but when we tried singing in a round it wasn’t very successful.
Congratulations – this was some exciting stuff. Do you feel you have started some new traditions at your school? ..and boy howdy that 5th grader with the 82 digits humbles me. [Ah, this brings back memories. Remember our faculty competition? What did we make, maybe 2 dozen and pfft?]
I, too, enjoyed a piece of pi(e) yesterday – even had a piece to bring home to the dear spouse. Parents donating pies is always a hit anywhere, don’t you think?
That is fantastic!!! What a great idea! I wish I went to your school – I would have learned 83 digits! Who are we kidding? Well done, 82-digit kid!
Happy Pi Day!