Yesterday on March 14th, I received this text from a colleague who teaches gifted math:
Every year my students and I write pi-ku on Pi Day. I literally have to look up the definition each year. I’m a writing teacher, not a math teacher and for that matter, not a math person.
Some of my gifted students want to show me (in full song) that they have memorized the first 100 digits of pi. This year I banned the song. It’s a complete ear worm.
But I did encourage a pi-ku poem. These are short form like haiku except the syllable count follows the digits of pi. (3, 1, 4, 5, 1, 9)
Circumference
Earth
a peppermint
pizza
diametric ride
all of us have Pi Day every year
(Carson, 3rd grade)
Happy Pi
day!
March the fourteenth.
Hey
come with us to
celebrate the day with some good pie.
(Kailyn, 6th grade)
Reflections on the Teche 
So clever!!! I also like how you admit, you have to look up exactly how it goes. Now that I know this is your last year as a teacher, I bet these celebrations are even more important – your last Pi Day. However, maybe not. You can always be a guest to visit and run such a lesson. Maybe at a grand child’s school!! Thanks for sharing a glimpse of writing on Pi Day!
Sally, I’m trying not to focus on lasts. I will never not be a teacher. I will find ways to keep children in my life.
pi doesn’t hit the math curriculum here where I live until Grade 7 — but kids are so interested in the concept of pi, it has come up in lots of earlier grades. I love the tie into poetry, and seeing how pi can be in our world. Thanks for sharing!
Th sixth graders were the only ones who really understood the concept, but the others have fun with the form.
What fun poetry can be – – even in math, particularly on Pi day. I actually remembered it this year and bought the coconut cream pies in the little round freezer containers (Marie Callender’s, I think) and celebrated Pi day on Thursday night while my husband was out to dinner with his father and son on mens’ night. The poetry has fewer calories, so perhaps I’ll stick to that next year! You make it all such fun.
Love this connection between poetry and math! I will definitely be giving pi-kus a try. Thanks for sharing.
I love when content areas and literacy co-exist!
This is a fun idea I’ve never heard of- I’m sure the math teachers loved it to! Thanks for sharing some student work.
Fun pi=ku, Margaret. I laughed when you said you banned the use of the pi song because it’s an ear worm! Funny. I like Kailyn’s idea for how to celebrate, with some good pie.
Hi Margaret, you do such fun activities. I love when you share your plans and your students’ work. I like that Carson included a peppermint and pizza. I like that Kailyn included pie and she put it at the end, which makes it seem like a surprise. Thank you.
Love this Pi-ku adventure, Margaret! I am not a math teacher or math person, either, but for a few years I did a fun summer math camp with kids, unbelievably. I am amazed by people who can recall so many digits – or see colors connected with numbers (grapheme color-synesthesia). You had me chuckling at banning the song. I so understand. The kids did a fabulous job with the poems – “diametric ride” – whoa!
Got to love a pi-ku! I love Carson’s “peppermint pizza”–maybe we’ll try this form off Pi day–during poetry month!
Kim