Pi Day Songs and Poems

5th grade students recently celebrate Pi Day. Pi Day is a math holiday celebrating the number Pi, which is approximately equal to 3.14....


Here are a couple of songs and poems written by the mathematicians....

Pi Poem by Jonathan P.

3.14 is an odd number

it is endless like space

it goes on and on 

without a pattern

the decimals are

the planets and stars

but there are more planets 

to explore

same with pi

Pi Rap by Coral W.

Whose value is the ratio of any circle's circumference?

No, I'm not speaking nonsense

a mathematical constant

that's pi.

3.141593

You see?

It's an approximate decimal notation

irrational as a number

and it's decimal notation

never ends or repeats

no, don't retreat

I'm talking about pi.

For a circle's circumference

it's a simple calculation

to get the valuation

it's diameter times pi.

For a circle's diameter

it's a simple calculation

with a little different valuation

that the circumference

it's circumference divided by pi.

And you should have a happy Pi Day on March 14th

funny thing about 3.14 and March 14th...

they're the same.

How to make some “paw”some German Cookies!

How to make some “paw”some German Cookies!*
My mom last weekend made cookies from a magazine called “Better Homes and Gardens” but changed around the recipe! You can change it too!
In order to make them**, you will need:
¼ cup of butter (softened), ¾ cup of packed brown sugar, ½ tsp of baking soda, 1/8 tsp of salt, 1 egg, 1 tsp of vanilla, 2/3 cup of flower, 2/3 cup of rolled oats, ¼ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder, 3 oz of sweet chocolate chips, 1/3 cup of flaked coconut & 1/3 of chopped walnuts.
Now that we have all of the ingredients down, lets tell you how to make them!
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.
3.Add the brown sugar, baking soda and salt
4.Beat until well combined.
5.Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.
6.Beat in flour.
7.Stir in the rolled oats, cocoa powder, chocolate chips and nuts.
8.Then stir in the coconut (The dough will be thick).
9. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
10.Bake from 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges are just firm and tops are set.
11.Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet.
12.And last but not least, transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
13. Enjoy!
I really enjoy eating these cookies. I love how they're chocolaty. But they always make crumbs! Oh well! Anyways, on a scale from 1 to 10... I give it a... 8!
The reason I only gave it a 8 was because you can barely taste the coconut! well, I hope you enjoy the cookies!

*WARNING! CONTAINS NUTS!
** MAKES ABOUT 30-35 COOKIES.

Picture credit to: http://www.national-cookie-network.com/german-chocolate-cookies/

Sweet Sites for Surfin'

by Angie LaFave

Are you bored with the websites you used to love? Here is where you will find fun, creative sites that Middle Schoolers have told us about and why they love them!

www.foopets.com

FooPets is an adorable site with lifelike cats and dogs that you must take care of every day. It is a free website but you can purchase FooDollars with a credit card to buy things like breeding liscences, more pets, etc. Your first pet is free. This is a great site for kids who cannot have a pet of their own because it is like having the responsibility of a real pet without cleaning up messes. You still have to buy food, but you buy it with gems that you earn by playing arcade games. Water is free. “They're really cute,” said Liz Chase, who has an account on FooPets. “I like how you have to take care of them every day.” Another FooPet owner commented, “My dog is a spaz!” The best part is that if you miss a day, your friends can feed and play with your pet. You can also delete your account if it becomes too much. If you forget to take care of your pet too long, it will be sent to a shelter, so remember that if you adopt a pet you should take it seriously!

www.icanhascheezburger.com

icanhascheezburger is a website full of funny cat pictures. People take pics of their cats in funny positions (like yawning, a paw in the air, or sitting innocently in the midst of disaster) and post it to the site. Then they put fitting captions on the pictures or put the picture available for captioning by everbody. You don't even need an account to caption these pictures! The people who created icanhascheezburger also created several other hilarious websites! This site is the perfect boredom buster, but you can't expect new content every time you go on – posts appear every few hours. While you're waiting for some new laughs, though, try...

www.mofunzone.com

Mofunzone is a website that pulls games from websites all over – sort of like a gaming Google! There are lots of popular games of all kinds – puzzle, adventure, RPG, classic, racing, fighting, sports, action, interactions, and some quirky games that nobody can describe. Even older games like Super Mario, Pac Man, and Sonic the Hedgehog can be found on this fun-filled site! A comment left on the site by vib, who is a user of this site, was “cool new features, this site keeps gettin betr :D”. On this site you can find games from Nintendo, Sega, Newgrounds, and even World of Warcraft!

http://sites.google.com/site/gbstechnologycenter/

So, clearly the listed webpages are not approved for school. But what about games you can play DURING school? In that case, go to the GBS Tech website! On the site, there's a button that says, “Learning Links.” You can then click on a subject you want to learn about through fun online games! “These games are approved for school,” Tech teacher Mrs. Hale said.

These four different websites can keep anybody entertained for hours and save you from boredom! Suggest these sites to anyone you know that could use a few surfing tips! Also, you can leave a suggestion for a site that you think could use a little advertisement! Remember – surf responsibly!

*Note 1- we, the Great Brook Journalists, are not responsible for the content of these sites.
**Note 2- the following sites are not approved for school use without permission: icanhascheezburger.com, mofunzone.com and foopets.com.

Images from www.icanhascheezburger.com, www.foopets.com and www.sydlexia.com