Bellevue Students Celebrate National Pi Day by Making Pies and Having Fun with Fractions

Bellevue Elementary School students will be making and enjoying pies this week in celebration of National pi day. Pi, which equals 3.1415926535…, represents the relationship between a circle’s diameter and its circumference. Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th.

The Bellevue 4th graders have been making pies while engaging in math activities. The program includes activities that reinforce math concepts learned in the classroom, i.e., geometry, fractions, measurement and money. It also allows the children to explore careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, with a particular focus on careers in mathematics.

"Pi Day is part of a 6-week project on mathematics that began March 1 and is sponsored by Bellevue and the Say Yes Collegiate Preparatory Academy (SYCPA). Corcoran High School students who are members of SYCPA and SYCPA tutors, who are Syracuse University students, have been providing lessons around the math principle of Pi and reinforcing 4th grade math curriculum during the project.

The students have been tested and interviewed at the beginning of the program and will be again at the end of the program to measure skill progress. The will also have the opportunity to showcase their math projects to their fellow students at Bellevue Elementary School.

The Say Yes Collegiate Preparatory Academy (SYCPA) is a holistic college access model designed to support SCSD students while they navigate the college selection process. Students in the academy have an opportunity to enhance and expand their academic, social, technical, and civic engagement experiences through: extended day academic tutoring at the high schools, project based learning supported and sponsored by SU faculty and staff, opportunities to earn college credits through SU summer college, participate in courses designed for the Say Yes distance learning model and opportunities to volunteer during corporate and CBO community campaigns. This goal of this holistic college access model is that SYCPA students are viewed as viable candidates for acceptance in some of the more competitive colleges and universities."