What Now America

Last Saturday was a unique program at WNA, as visitors from local community organizations visited the program to engage the youth in creative and enriching activities, related to the day’s language theme. The youth were extremely enthusiastic about these new experiences, and shared appreciation of the program visitors.

Last Saturday centered on science, combining useful scientific information with group games and interactive activities, which shared different ways that scientific concepts affect everyday life. For example, a demonstration using marbles showed how sound waves move in one direction. Illustrating the way that people localize sound using both ears, the youth played a game in which a blindfolded person had to guess where a sound was coming from. The game emphasized the importance of listening to directions and taking turns, as the youth needed to be completely silent as one person was making a sound. Other exciting games allowed the youth to engage in healthy exercise and stretch their brains by following complicated directions.  

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.