Like most math teachers I love Pi Day!  I mean, who doesn’t love a day where you eat pie and celebrate math?!  I have always done a bunch of fun pi related activities with my students on Pi Day (you can read all about them and grab a Pi Day word problem freebie in this post from a couple of years ago), but the activities I usually do are geared towards 5^th – 8^th grade (pre-algebra) kids and aren’t really relevant to my Algebra I kids since area and circumference of circles are not in the Algebra curriculum.

So, I have set out to find ways to tie Pi Day into Algebra concepts and have come up with the following activities:

1. Pi Day Literal Equations:  Literal Equations are a topic I teach towards the beginning of the year in Algebra I.  It is one of the harder concepts we do at the beginning of the year so I think Pi Day is the perfect time to revisit and review them.  I made a worksheet with a bunch of Geometry formulas that involve pi to have my students solve for pi.  I made it a bonus to see how many of the formulas students can identify.  The first student/group to finish and the student who correctly identifies the most formulas get prizes!  (Download the worksheet by clicking the image below).
2. Systems of Pies: Have students work with a partner to write a system of equations about pies.  Then have students walk around the room and solve each other’s systems of equations using the methods of their choosing.
3. Pi Day Attack Review Game: Have each group draw a pie cut into 5 slices.  Ask students review questions on ANY Algebra I topic.  When a group gets an answer right, they can attack two different pies by “eating” a slice (coloring it in).  The last pie with any slices remaining is the winner!  (I wrote a detailed blog post about Attack here that you can read for a better explanation of the game and rules).

I hope this has given you some useful ideas for making Pi Day a success in your Algebra class!  What other activities have you done that bring Pi Day into the Algebra I classroom?

Thanks for reading,

Christina