World of Tan 19 - Working Men

Stage: 2 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:2 Challenge Level:2
Children you might like to:
  • List all the words to do with circles or being being circular.
  • Discuss with your friends how to finish Grandma T's method of finding the centre of a circle
  • Write an acrostic about circles.
  • Find out all you can about pi, using the internet.
Parents you might like to:
  • Explore the house and garden for things circular or cylindrical.
  • Help find out more about pi. What exactly is this 'mysterious' number?
  • Explain what you learnt about circles when you were at school.
  • Discuss the phrase 'as is his wont'. What does this mean? Are there similar phrases?
  • Explain the words annulus and annular.
Teachers you might like to:
  • Explore the relationship between the distance around different circular objects e.g. tins, and the distance directly across them. also help find out more about the (transcendental) number pi. What about the different values that are used in school books? And why?
  • Encourage youngsters to write mnemonics to remember pi for some of its many places of decimals. - e.g. May I have a large container of coffee (i.e the value of pi to 7 decimal places 3.1415926) n.b. to 30 decimal places pi's value is 3.141 592 653 897 543 238 452 643 383 279.
  • Explore shapes that are circular but can appear elliptical - try a teacup full of liquid when viewed from the side . Or, try viewing something elliptical - is it possible to see circles from particular points of view?
  • consider the different ways circles can be packed or the different ways cylinders can be (safely) stacked.