Pi Night - HCES families learn about pi through hands-on activities
Humphreys Central Elementary School celebrated their annual Pi Night on March 14 with a family event featuring hands-on math, poetry, technology, reading, dance, and craft activities.
The event was organized by Ms. Rowena Sablan, one of the HCES math support specialists, with a goal to include engaging activities for elementary school students across a spectrum of subjects with the theme of pi and circles.
“HCES Pi Night is an event that gets our students excited about math,” said Ms. Rowena Sablan, Math Support Specialist. “It was a fun opportunity for our students and their families to celebrate the mathematical significance of pi, or 3.14.”
Celebrating pi was a perfect opportunity to feature all elements of STEAM, and also include literacy. Circles and pi were embedded in all the various activities at an appropriate level for K-4 elementary students. Math activities incorporated the geometry of circles, measurement, and introduced the concept of pi. Technology stations included coding Ozobot robots, creating pixel art by solving math problems, building electrical circuits, and a VR goggles escape room. One very popular activity was a 'Pi-Ku' poetry writing station with a "pie" art component. The library was also open for literal literature circles, with our HCES librarian doing pi and circle-related read-alouds.
“Pi Night was a great opportunity for our students and families to come together to celebrate and participate in math activities,” said Ms. Shenae Wiley, HCES principal. “HCES is so fortunate to have a supportive PTSO and community members that helped to make the event so successful. The admin team is also very appreciative of Ms. Sablan and her team for seeing the need to have a fun night that supports learning for everyone.”
This event was a huge success and HCES families enjoyed all of the hands-on Pi Night activities. Events like this are not possible without all of the volunteers who help make them happen, including a large number of HCES staff members, the HCES PTSO, community and soldiers, National Honor Society and JROTC students from the Humphreys High School, and National Junior Honor Society students from Humphreys Middle School. This event concluded with a Pie in the Face fundraiser organized by the PTSO, and the educators who were chosen through family donations got cream pies in the face from students, all in the spirit of fun. HCES Pi Night is a wonderful celebration of math for elementary school students who have a blast exploring the wide variety of activities with their families.
