What Now America

An activity-filled Saturday at WNA focused on math, giving the youth valuable practice through a variety of structured games and activities. Two students from UC Berkeley visited the program to share their math expertise through exciting, math-related games and an informative lecture. While playing a game called “Moogle”, youth got to know each other better by breaking off into groups of different sizes depending on the number called by the adult conducting the game. Another math-related activity emphasized teamwork and familiarity with sequences, as the youth filled in the blank spaces in a number sequence and worked with team members to reach a goal area the quickest. This practice with sequences served as an excellent introduction to a presentation about the famous Fibonacci sequence. The youth learned about the way the sequence works by determining the pattern of a growing sequence of numbers. The presentation also shared information about unlikely places the Fibonacci sequence appears, such as in the human body, or in a seashell pattern.

The day involved additional math activities, including a number listing game, play with tangrams, and a math bingo game. The bingo game provided practice with multiplication, subtraction, and addition, allowing the youth to practice their skills in a friendly environment, with a bit of healthy competition. Number listing allowed the youth to examine their world knowledge while thinking of items with a given number of attributes, and tangrams provided creative play with geometry.

During the day, the youth and staff shared lunch while discussing favorite foods and introducing themselves to the new members. WNA has grown steadily in the last couple weeks, as the youth introduce family members and friends to the program, by sharing their positive experiences. The enthusiasm of families for the program is an asset for the youth and staff, both of whom enjoyed the presence of family members last Saturday as well as on previous program days. The youth also got to spend their hard-earned "big bucks," rewards for positive participation at the program, on the shopping day. Lots of fun was had as the youth chose intriguing prizes and shared them with others.