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Pi Day: A UNIT STUDY Read~Write~Create~Explore~Enjoy~Learn!

March 6, 2021 by Katherine Wolfe 2 Comments

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}

Each UNIT STUDY includes suggestions of books to READ, ideas to WRITE, crafts to CREATE, more to EXPLORE, snacks to ENJOY and other ways to LEARN about a specific topic! To read more about the concepts behind my UNIT STUDIES, read this.

If you find it handy to have a simplified printable of these suggestions, you can find one, along with several free printables, here in the FREE Pi Day Unit Study Printable Pack.

Otherwise, read on for a more detailed version with links embedded!

{Note: The links are pink! Just think, “pink link” if you are wanting to follow a link to something.}

INTRO: I have to admit that I have never {as a kid, classroom teacher or homeschool mom} celebrated PI DAY. I never even knew it was a thing until a few years ago when I saw something about it on FaceBook. But, as my son has been slugging his way through Algebra and Geometry this year, I decided it was high time we had some PI DAY fun around here!

READ: Happy Pi Day to You by Bonnie Worth is a rather fun Cat-in-the-Hat book and the perfect way to start your PI DAY UNIT STUDY! It’s in the classic Cat-in-the-Hat style with silly rhyming and funny images but also pertinent facts! These books are marketed as a way to “introduce beginning readers to important basic concepts about the world we live in.” Personally, I find them to be a great way to introduce older kids to more complicated concepts in an easy-to-read style. Especially, when you use the mini Book Companion Pack found in the FREE Pi Day Unit Study Printable Pack, kids of several ages and levels can use this book as a great intro to PI DAY.

Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi by Cindy Neuschwander is part of a clever math series for kids. This math adventure is centered around a quest to rescue Sir Cumference by solving a math riddle with a magic number {that just happens to be PI!}

Might I Interest You in a Piece of Pi? by Miftees is simply a book of PI puns. Fun and funny!

It Happened One Pi Day by Eric Schmidt is an interesting approach to helping people {kids included} memorize the first 600 digits of PI. I personally have no interest in checking this off my bucket list but the concept is cool and it does make for an intriguing visual aid for how infinite PI really is.

How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics by Eugenia Cheng is something geared more towards adults and more math-minded teens and covers many more math topics than just PI but, for those who want to expand their learning beyond what is found at a kid-level, this is actually a fun and clever read.

WRITE: The FREE Pi Day Unit Study Printable Pack includes three different writing activities.

This page just asks kids to make a list of circle-shaped objects.

This next page allows the kids to write as many PI facts as they can inside the lined circle.

And this third page is a bit more fun and engaging. It asks kids to write three full PI facts but then to write .14 of another fact. That last partial fact is then used as a way to see if anybody can figure out the rest of it!

LEARN: If you don’t have access to any of the books mentioned or if you are a mama like me who tends to “plan” short notice, no worries! I’ve got ya covered with this Pi Day Fact Pack. It’s simple and to the point but fun with a few ways to look at the most important facts of PI along with a few activities to cement the concepts. It’s not free but with discount code HappyPIDay, it’ll cost less than $3.14!

CREATE: This Sidewalk Chalk Pi Activity not only teaches all about PI, it disappears in the rain and doesn’t need to be stored! Gotta love that!

This free Pop Art Pi Page is super cute and involves just coloring a whole bunch of circles! Younger kids can do it in a simple fashion while older kids could definitely turn it into a work of {pop} art!

But my absolute favorite way to explore PI in a creative way is this PI in the Sky Cityscape! Not only does it allow kids to see the actual digits of PI, it allows each kid to take the number as far as they want. Plus, it can be done super simple with graph paper and colored pencils or watercolors can be used to turn it into a real piece of art!

ENJOY: What to eat for PI DAY seems pretty obvious to me: PIE! But, I suppose you could make things a little more well-rounded, ha ha ha, and serve circular food all day long!

Pancakes or Eggos for breakfast would be fun!

Lunch could be either uncrustable sandwiches or something served on pita bread. Both would be great with sliced cucumbers on the side.

Dinner would need to be pizza, of course!

And, then pie for dessert!

EXPLORE: {You may want to start your PI exploration by printing out this free visual aid.}

Legos are a family favorite around here but we usually use them just to create elaborate Star Wars ships but when I saw the idea to build PI out of Legos, I knew we needed to give it a go! It’s really simple. You just need a written/printed version of the number PI, a baseplate and several square Legos. Some call it a 3-D Cityscape of PI. Others call it a Pi Graph. We just called it hands-on fun and a great visual representation of PI!

Here is a link to an easy hands-on activity for nearly all ages. It shows how to easily explore PI with string.

And here is a link to a much more complex hands-on way to explore PI. It is geared for older kids and will take more time but it allows for a concrete understanding of diameter, PI and circumference.

This link takes you to the annual Pi Day Challenge. It does require you to sign up but the process is quick and simple and then gives you access to some very cool but challenging online PI-related puzzles.

If you have an early learner who wants to join in on the PI DAY fun, here are a few simple Pi Day activities for them. They’re more circle-related than focused on PI, but still fun for the little ones!

There are loads of free videos that cover the topic of PI. Here is a super quick {less than two minutes} video that showcases pies to teach about PI.

Brain-Pop has one that lasts 3 minutes and 14 seconds {so clever of them.}

And, here’s the best one, in my opinion. It’s from TedEd and does a great job of explaining the history of PI and how we still use it today…and all under 4 minutes.

But, if you want to take this PI thing well beyond simple circles, check out this Your Life in Pi video. It’s mind-blowing!

Martin Luther King Jr: A UNIT STUDY Read~Write~Create~Explore~Enjoy~Learn!

January 8, 2021 by Katherine Wolfe Leave a Comment

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}

If you find it handy to have a simplified printable of these suggestions, you can find one, along with several free MLK printables, here in the FREE MLK Unit Study Printable Pack.

Otherwise, read on for a more detailed version with links embedded!

{Note: The links are pink! Just think, “pink link” if you are wanting to follow a link to something.}

INTRO: I am seriously embarrassed and downright ashamed to say that we have never done much to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day in our homeschool. We have learned about him in our history lessons multiple times over the years but we have never actually celebrated the national holiday and the man behind it. But, after being inspired by something I discovered in the Celebrate It! Digital Grab Bag, I am determined to rectify that this year!

READ: As you can imagine, there are loads of books about Martin Luther King Jr. I’ve narrowed this list down to just a handful geared towards a few different levels of readers.

Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo is a pretty simple book which makes it great for early readers or as a family read aloud. It touches upon the civil rights issues of the day but in a child-friendly tone. It also tries to highlight why his birthday is a national holiday which makes it the perfect choice for January.

Despite the fact that the big-headedness of the cover illustrations bother me, I usually like the content of the Who Was series, and Who Was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr by Bonnie Bader does not disappoint. It’s a short chapter book that covers the entirety of his life and even includes a timeline. It was written for 3rd Grade+ and opens up a whole lot of discussion doors on civil rights, segregation, discrimination, protests, etc. but in an appropriate manner for this age group. Another good option from a newer series, in case those big-headed covers of Who Was creep you out too, is The Story of Martin Luther King Jr.: A Biography Book for New Readers by Christine Platt. It is written with the same audience in mind as the Who Was series and does a great job of covering MLK’s life too.

For slightly older kids, I highly suggest Martin Luther King: The Peaceful Warrior by Ed Clayton. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s kind of hard to come by on the internet but your library may have a copy. Mine did! This book was written by somebody who worked directly with Martin Luther King Jr. and, therefore, has a much more REAL feel to the book, as opposed to one written by an unimpacted author who just pulled info from a Google search. But, it is still presented in an appropriate manner; just be prepared for deep conversations about segregation and racial inequalities to spring up.

You can also use this fun and free MLK Mini Book Pack. It includes two options: one with text and one without so it is appropriate for more than one level. It covers MLK’s life in ten steps but leaves the detailed history up to you. If you want to just introduce your younger kids to MLK in a most basic fashion, this book would do just that. But, you can certainly expand on each step with more discussion. It is free and available on its own but is also found in the FREE MLK Unit Study Printable Pack.

And because I am trying really hard not to spend precious time reinventing the wheel, here is a link to a very thorough list of MLK book suggestions from Peanut Butter Fish Lessons, divided into age categories.

WRITE: For younger kids, there is this quick and simple Writing Activity. It is part of the FREE MLK Unit Study Printable Pack. This activity can be tailored to writing about a child’s own personal dreams or to connecting their own child-sized civil rights dreams to that of MLK.

For older kids, the FREE MLK Unit Study Printable Pack also includes a couple of writing prompts that ask the kids to think about and respond to issues related to racial segregation and discrimination. There are two styles of lines to accommodate two levels of writers.

LEARN: For an easy yet thorough introduction to MLK, check out this Martin Luther King Jr Fact Pack. It introduces your 3rd-6th graders to the life of MLK with ten pages of Informational Text Passages and Comprehension Questions and includes information on his childhood, family life, education, church leadership, civil rights work and death. It does cost a wee bit but with discount code 25OffMLK, you’ll save 25% which means it will only cost a wee-wee bit {like less than a fancy coffee at McDs wee bit!}

CREATE: This super cool art project was what inspired me to finally put together some lessons for MLK! What I really like about this is that it’s not just an art project. It’s an art project that makes ya think! AND, it’s easily adaptable to a wide range of ages. The instructions ask the kids to draw little icons but it also includes a version where you can just print them out for smaller kids. But, we skipped the icons altogether and decided to write out definitions. I LOVE how it turned out!

This is the example from the creator…so, obviously much prettier than ours! We got this project as part of the Celebrate It! Digital Grab Bag which was a GREAT DEAL and included all sorts of great resources. If the sale is over, I’d still head on over there to check out the site and sign up so you are hooked up for future sales.

EXPLORE: If you and your kids want more MLK, you’ll find a couple of videos below. Depending on age, you may want to watch with your kids.

You may also want to check out this Pinterest Board. It has a carefully curated collection of ideas of how to teach about and celebrate Martin Luther King Day!

Steam Trains: A UNIT STUDY Read~Write~Create~Explore~Enjoy~Learn!

December 16, 2020 by Katherine Wolfe Leave a Comment

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}

Each UNIT STUDY includes suggestions of books to READ, ideas to WRITE, crafts to CREATE, more to EXPLORE, snacks to ENJOY and other ways to LEARN about a specific topic!

This is part of a series, THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. For a thorough explanation of UNIT STUDIES {what they are and what they include} check out THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. You’ll also find a schedule of when each new UNIT PACK will go live!

Day Twelve: STEAM TRAINS

The Polar Express by Chris van Allsburg is a classic Christmas book {even though it’s relatively young in the literature world} and was always one I read with my students when I taught in the classroom. I know that STEAM TRAINS are not a “winter-themed” topic but there is just something about this STEAM TRAIN going on this particular journey that just whispers “winter” to me.

READ: Like I said above, The Polar Express by Chris van Allsburg is a classic. If you don’t have it in your Christmas library, you should really consider getting it. And if you have only ever seen the movie, you DEFINITELY need to read the book. Though a Christmas classic in it’s own right, the animation in the movie has some sort of odd feel to it….something the book doesn’t have. So, definitely check out the book. And, if you do, be sure to use the pages found in the FREE mini BOOK COMPANION PACK!

WRITE: Freight Train by Donald Crews is a sweet little book that lends itself perfectly to this writing activity. Whether you read the book or not, your little ones are sure to love this activity which you can find in the FREE WINTER-THEMED WRITING ACTIVITY PACK.

CREATE: This POPSICLE STICK TRAIN CRAFT uses just popsicle sticks, white glue, red/green paint {optional} and various embellishments. You can also make TRAIN TRACKS with the same supplies! This EGG CARTON TRAIN CRAFT is more involved than just popsicle sticks and glue but you can actually work on ways to make it move!

EXPLORE: Trains by Amy Shields- National Geographic Kids is a great little easy reader all about TRAINS. It is written at a basic level but is filled with factual information that leaves the reader with quite a bit of knowledge about TRAINS. And you can use the applicable pages in the FREE NON-FICTION mini BOOK COMPANION PACK to check on that new-found knowledge!

ENJOY: This GRAHAM CRACKER TRAIN SNACK is super easy to make with graham crackers, nilla wafers, cheerios and some candy. Or here is A DIFFERENT VERSION that uses graham crackers, mini Oreos, mini marshmallows and a few M&Ms.

LEARN: There are a couple of great STEAM TRAIN documentaries to consider:

Great American Steam {3 minutes}

A Story of Steam {15 minutes}

And Then There Was One {90 minutes}

READ MORE: Below is a good mix of both fiction and non-fiction books about STEAM TRAINS.

Check out the entire series,

12 Days of Winter Unit Studies!

READ~WRITE~CREATE~EXPLORE~ENJOY~LEARN!

I hope this EVERGREEN TREES UNIT STUDY gave you at least a few ideas about how to weave in some education this holiday season!

Be sure to check out the other UNIT STUDIES as they go live. You can find the full schedule, along with the rest of the Homeschooling Fun Through the Holidays Series, HERE!

Much appreciation goes out to my good friend, Jamie Spear! She helped me find these fun books, crafts, snacks and more! Without her, these UNIT STUDIES would have nothing but “read this, print that, and write something!” You can find her on FaceBook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Snow: A UNIT STUDY Read~Write~Create~Explore~Enjoy~Learn!

December 15, 2020 by Katherine Wolfe Leave a Comment

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.}

Each UNIT STUDY includes suggestions of books to READ, ideas to WRITE, crafts to CREATE, more to EXPLORE, snacks to ENJOY and other ways to LEARN about a specific topic!

Day Eleven: SNOW

Whether you live in sunny California or frigid Minnesota, a series of WINTER UNIT STUDIES would not be complete without doing SNOW!

READ: The Snowman by Raymond Briggs is one of my ALL-TIME favorite books because of its sweet story, lovely illustrations and sad ending. Yes, the sad ending is one of the aspects that makes it such a sweet tale. And it offers great lessons for kids and adults of all ages….and all without a single word! Be sure to grab the FREE mini FICTION BOOK COMPANION PACK to work on your student’s comprehension skills.

WRITE: And to go along with The Snowman by Raymond Briggs is this cute writing activity. You can find it in the FREE Winter-Themed Writing Activity Pack. It’s easy and quick but really does a great job of connecting the student to the book by asking for something his/her snowman liked and something it didn’t.

Here is my silly sample. I’m sure your kiddos can do much better than I did! My poor snowman doesn’t even have a hat….then again, if you saw the way I drew the hat on my snowman in the HIBERNATION UNIT STUDY, you might think a hatless snowman is an improvement.

There is also a paragraph activity for kids who want to write more. This one asks the student to create a way for the snowman not to melt at the end of the book.

EXPLORE: The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter’s Wonder by Jon Nelson is a great NON-FICTION book that does just what the title says! It tells the story of snow…how it starts, how it builds and how it falls. In addition to the easy-to-digest but real scientific text, it also has both great illustrations AND photographs. There are comprehension questions that go along with it in the FREE NON-FICTION mini BOOK COMPANION PACK that should allow your kids to take their learning to the next level.

There is also a great 40+ minute documentary on SNOW that I would recommend: Secrets of the Greatest SNOW on Earth by National Geographic.

ENJOY: This Cucumber Carrot Snowman Snack is super easy to make and healthy too! In addition to some cucumber slices and a bit of cleverly-cut carrot pieces, it also uses a couple of pretzel sticks and some raisins.

This Pretzel Marshmallow Snowflake Snack is not as healthy but is just as easy and cute! It requires just small marshmallows and some pretzel sticks!

Another SNOW snack option {that could actually be served as lunch or dinner} is these Snowman Mini Pizzas. All you need is some sort of round carb base {she used biscuit dough, but you could easily use crackers, mini pitas, sandwich thins, tortillas, or actual pizza dough} plus some sauce, cheese, olives and cleverly-cut carrot slices.

All of the above rely on the imagination to incorporate the SNOW theme into the snack but if you actually have SNOW to work with, then you may want to make some Snow Ice Cream with fresh snow, condensed milk and vanilla.

But, really, the best SNOW snack idea is this one. Just check it out. Seriously, THIS is what I would serve and call it a day!

And, while your kids enjoy their SNOW snacks and water, ha ha, they can enjoy The Snowman on Amazon Prime!

CREATE: There are so many SNOW crafts on Pinterest. SO MANY! I’ll just list a few of my favorites to give you a good selection:

Symmetrical Snowflake Craft

Snowpaint

Melted Snowman

Salt Snowflakes

Coffee Filter Snowflakes

LEARN: Your kids have probably all heard the song, Let It Snow but do they know the words? Use this SONG LITERACY PACK to teach them the lyrics and also work on some pertinent literacy skills. It’s not normally free, but if you use code SnowingWOLFe, it will be totally FREE for you!

READ MORE: A wee bit below are several other good books on SNOW. Each would make a great addition to any SNOW study!

I hope this SNOW UNIT STUDY provided at least a few ideas to spark an interest in SNOW this winter!

Be sure to check out the other UNIT STUDIES as they go live. You can find the full schedule, along with the rest of the Homeschooling Fun Through the Holidays Series, HERE!