Celebrate Square Root Day with Fun Activities

Gifted Students Enjoy Math Lessons on a Rare Mathematical Day

Mar 2, 2009 Alex Sharp

Square Root Day is more rare than Leap Day because it only occurs nine times every century. Teachers can use the day as a fun way to have goofy fun with square roots.

It is easy to mark the calendar for Square Root Day, because the days are extremely few and far between. The date occurs when the date is the square root of the last two digits of the year. If students miss Square Root Day 2009, their next chance to celebrate won't come until 2016, but there is always Pi Day for students and teachers who need a math fix.

Upcoming Square Root Dates

A teacher will only see a few square root days before retirement. The full calendar includes:

• March 3, 2009 (3/3/09)
• April 4, 2016 (4/4/16)
• May 5, 2025 (5/5/25)
• June 6, 2036 (6/6/36)
• July 7, 2049 (7/7/49)
• August 8, 2064 (8/8/64 )
• September 9, 2081 (9/9/81)

For students who are learning about or use square roots, Square Root Day can offer an opportunity for teachers to have fun with math.

Square Root Online Computer Games

Rather than do reinforcement worksheets, teachers can offer students chances to play with square roots. Gifted students enjoy basking in ability and knowledge, and being proud of being able to understand square roots fits that category. Gifted classrooms also offer the security to enjoy being smart and playing with knowledge. There are several online resources to have fun with Square Root Day.

Square Root Clock

If it didn't have to do with math, Purpose Game's Square Root Clock would feel like a time-waster that one plays and plays, then wonders where the day went. Students are given a time to locate on the clock, and they have to figure it out and click on it. The game offers hints for those who can not manage the square roots without sneaking over to Google's calculator.

Square Root Tic Tac Toe

Funbrain is an excellent resource for learning games, and they have several challenging math-related games on their site. Students will enjoy the Square Root Tic Tac Toe. In order to mark a place on the board, players must solve the square problem. The game has a bonus bit of humor in having a square-shaped game board. When students have exhausted the square root tic tac toe game, they can explore other challenging math games in Funbrain's Super Brain section.

Classroom Square Root Activities

Teachers who do not have student computers in the classroom can offer their students other fun ways to play with square roots. Crusader Education's "I Have Who Has Mental Math Card" Game offers a fun way to involve the whole class in a classroom community game of solving square roots.

Illustrated Math BooksMath books are also fun ways to recognize Square Day. Paul J. Nahin's An Imaginary Tale: The Story of "i" [Princeton University Press, 1998. ISBN: 0691127980] focuses on imaginary numbers. Although it does not deal with square roots, Mathterpieces [Scholastic Press, 2003, ISBN: 0439443881] by Greg Tan, is a fun, lovely book that pulls students into the math games effortlessly.

Although Square Day is not going to appear on many school calendars, gifted classrooms are the ideal forum for students and teachers to have some fun with the odd dates and play with math games online, in class, or at least enjoy some math stories together.

The copyright of the article Celebrate Square Root Day with Fun Activities in Gifted Education is owned by Alex Sharp. Permission to republish Celebrate Square Root Day with Fun Activities in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Fun with Square Roots at the Square Root Cafe

The Window Sign of the Square Root Cafe

What do you think about this article?

---

NOTE: Because you are not a Suite101 member, your comment will be moderated before it is viewable.

post your comment

What is 3+4?

Comments

Mar 4, 2009 12:30 PM

Guest :

In most centuries, it's true that there are only 9 square days. However, in the 22nd century, won't there be 12 of them? 10/10/2100, 11/11/2121, and 12/12/2144 should be valid square days. Note that this problem won't happen again for another thousand years, unless we change the calendar before then.

Mar 4, 2009 3:57 PM

Guest :

It appears that one "Square Root Day" was missed.
January 1st of the first year of each century is also a "numerically" legitimate "Square Root Day".
"C'mon all you Math Buffs!

2 Comments