Did we really spend an entire meeting talking about Math? Yes! This week we explored STEM with the Math Challenge from BC.
As the girls arrived, they completed their attendance and dues books and started colouring their Flextangle patterns. We then had our usual opening, followed by a Tag game.
The girls then split up into their patrols and rotated through 4 challenge activities.
Activity #1 - Tangrams
A tangram (page 23-24) is an ancient Chinese puzzle using 7 pieces made out of 3 shapes (triangle, square and parallelogram). The patrols had two challenges: first, they had to divide the pieces up among their members and try to make a square using all the pieces - and only touching their own pieces. Some patrols found this activity very easy, while others struggled. The second challenge was to see what other shapes they could form with the pieces. We had some creative results here, including a cabin and a tree.
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Activity #2 - Code Breakers
For this activity, we used the Code Breakers activity sheet from the Challenge Pack (pages 25-28). The girls had to work with their patrols to solve a cryptogram where numbers stood in for letters, a block cipher, and code using a Cryptograph Wheel.
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Activity #3 - Nim
Nim (page 42-43) is a mathematical game, where players take turns removing pieces but trying not to take the last one. There are a few different variations of this game. We played using beads instead of sticks. The beads were laid out in a grid of three rows of five. The players then take turns removing beads. They can take 1, 2, 3 or 4 on each turn. After picking up the first bead, the next must be above, below or beside the first, not diagonal.
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Activity #4 - Matchstick Puzzles
To solve the match stick puzzles, the Guides had to use their problem solving skills! We supplied a copy of the page of puzzles found in the Challenge Pack (page 34-35) and straws for the girls to work with.
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After clearing up from these activities, we played the Norwegian Number Game (page 30-31). In this game, girls make a large circle and link arms with a partner. One player is in the middle. The player in the middle runs and links onto the end of one pair. the player in the pair she doesn't link on to then runs to find a new partner, and so on. Girls cannot link onto the pair beside them. Whomever is left in the middle at the end of the count (30) is the "Old Maid". (We played it that they were the player to start in the middle for the next round.) While playing, everyone sings:
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty
One and twenty, two and twenty, three and four and five and six and twenty
Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!
Our final activity was to finish up our Flextangles. Not everyone finished their colouring, but we showed them the completed examples and the instructions on folding their flextangle were on the bottom of the page. We downloaded and printed the template from Babble Dabble Do.
We closed with an enrolment of our last Guide, reminders for next week (dress warmly!) and Taps.
