What happens when Pi Day falls on the week of Purim? Why, BPY middle school students bake hamentashen/oznei Haman, of course! Pi Day has long been celebrated for being the 14th day of the third month. Pi is the constant that is used in math to express the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Since hamentashen are formed by taking circular dough and transforming them into triangles, it seemed fitting to do this Pi baking activity during the week of Purim.

Each middle school class had a mathematical tie-in to the day’s special activity: Sixth grade classified their hamentashen as triangles with special sides and angles; Seventh grade used percent/fraction/decimal conversions as well as ratios and proportions for their fillings; and eighth grade calculated the slope of each side of their hamentashen on a coordinate plane.

What a delicious and fun cross disciplinary activity. Purim sameach!