Now here’s a school that know how to have fun! Parent volunteers at the Learning Community Charter School in Jersey City, N.J., recently held a Pi-e Day celebration in honor of Pi Day, which is celebrated on March 14.

The event featured a bake-off, pie arts and crafts, and a pie-eating contest. Organizers said it was expected to raise more than $3,000 for the school. The idea was to get a message out about pi, the mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter (equal to 3.14159).

Pi Day has become a fun way for PTOs and PTA to get kids excited about math. Last year, we got a great response to ideas for Pi Day, so we wanted to offer them again to any groups that may be looking for last-minute ideas:

• Fun with teachers: Many schools observe the day with activities using pies or pizzas. You might recruit teachers who agree to be “pied,” then invite students to vote for one teacher to take a pie in the face by putting coins in a jar. Or you could help teachers with their Pi Day lessons by supplying pizzas for their classes. Teachers can use the round pizzas to demonstrate lessons before students eat them for lunch.

• Games with kids: Have kids count off from 1 to 9. Then recite the digits of pi, with a person representing each number moving to the appropriate place in order, until you run out of people. Plan math games and invite students to challenge each other.

• Pi Contest Challenge students to write poems about pi or to memorize as many digits as they can. Give winners storybooks that involve pi, such as Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi by Cindy Neuschwander, or gift certificates to a local pizza place.