 |
|||
Winner of
the 2003 Golden Tassel Award for new Chapters from the National Dollars for Scholars Organization. |
|||
Pi Night March 13 2006 |
|
PRESS RELEASE Pi Party by Mary McClellan, ESCS teacher ESCS seventh graders hosted Pi Night 2006 on March 13, 2006. Pi, perhaps the most irrational number of all approximates 3.14. Middle school students from the Arthur D. Healey School as well as the ESCS had a fun filled mathematical night of P's: Pieces of Pizza, Pi Puzzles, Prepared Performances and Plenty of Prizes, including Pies. The Somerville Mathematics Fund sponsored this event. ESCS seventh graders prepared for the evening by decorating the cafeteria with a graffiti wall consisting of various forms of Pi Poetry, designing Pi T-shirts, Practicing Pi Songs, and writing a five paragraph essay on the history and current use of Pi in real world situations. Under the direction of their math teacher, Mr. Wil Jacques, students from the Healey joined ESCS students in a variety of intriguing Pi Puzzles. Some of the activities included: determining Pi's ratio by dropping toothpicks, determining if the area of square inscribed in a circle gives you the same probability of winning as the area of a circle inscribed in a square, and estimating the distance traveled by one rotation of varied sized bicycle wheels. Rounding out the activities were estimating circumferences by sight and by touch, mini-golf, estimating the number of circular objects in a container and finding the last two digits of the year Albert Einstein was born by determining the circumference and area of circles. Einstein's actual birth date is 3/14. Over forty volunteers from the community and Somerville High School helped run the events. While the Somerville High School Pi volunteers tallied the scores, the capacity filled cafeteria was entertained with Pi Performances. Leading the singing of various Pi Songs were Principal, Dr. Holly Hatch and the ESCS Music Teacher, Mr. Rick Saunders. ESCS seventh grader Justin Viltari won the Memorizing Pi Digits Contest. Standing center stage, Justin rapidly fired off the first thirty-nine digits of Pi. An ESCS group called The Eastie Street Boys, were decked out in black Pi T-shirts and wowed the audience with their Hip-Hop dancing. Every family member went home with a prize whether it was a scientific calculator, a book about Pi, or one of the over 300 pies donated by the Table Talk Pie Company. On behalf of the ESCS seventh graders and all of those Pi Party Revelers, we would like to express our gratitude to the following people and organizations for making the night infinitely successful: From the ESCS Community: Dr. Holly Hatch, ESCS Principal, Mr. Albert Pellechia, ESCS Vice Principal, ESCS Volunteer Teachers: Ms. Claire Guy, Ms. Dorothy Perarcchi, Ms. Galadriel McPhail. Ms. Rosemary Flannagan, Ms. Liz McKenney, Mr. Rick Saunders, Mr. Jay Texeira, Mr. Jean Devanthry, Mr. Neil Collins, our school's Community Police Officer, and our own faboulous ESCS PTA. From the Community: Mrs. Erica Voolich and members of The Somerville Mathematics Fund board & supporters, the Somerville High School Math Department including many wonderful high school student volunteers, Healey School volunteers, and community volunteers The Somerville Mathematics Fund, an Affiliate of Dollars for Scholars was chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage mathematics achievement in Somerville. For more information, to volunteer, or to make a contribution go to www.somervillemathematicsfund.org or e-mail voolich@aol.com or call 617-666-0666 (evenings).
|
