Hey Everybody! I hope all is well, especially since Winter has hit a breakthrough!! It is now turning dark at 5:30, NOT 4:30!!! Hopefully, I am not the only one celebrating. Now, back on topic, I will talk about our new units in both math and science! For math, firstly, we have started a new unit in fractions and decimals. Learning great skill sets, class Fe7B is able to add, subtract, multiply and divide not only decimals, but fractions as well. You may think dividing and multiplying decimals is hard but, the process is really quite simple. When multiplying decimals, the easiest way to find your product is by making your decimals whole numbers. For example: 3.4 x 7.8 can be 34 x 78. Afterwards, when you find your product, you have to divide it by 100 since you moved over the decimals by two place value spots. This is the final step. 34 x 78= 2652 divided by 100 = 26.52. When dividing decimals, the process is similar to long division with regular numbers. The one difference is that the divisor has to be a whole number and whatever you apply to the divisor, has to be applied to the dividend as well. For example: 12.9 divided by 3.9. In this division question 3.9 has to be a whole number by shifting the decimal over to the right. This means that the same applies to 12. 9. The new question is: 129 divided by 39. Here is a picture of the long division work:

As you can see, the answer is 3.307 which can be rounded to 3.31. The decimal is put after the place value spot of the 9 in 129. This is just like any other long division problem.

As for science, we have really gotten into experimentations involving substances and mixtures. In class, FE7B has started an activity involving experimentation. How will four solutes react with the solvent water? We first made hypotheses for all four powders. Then, we were able to start conducting our experiment. There needed to be a list of materials.

• water
• glass rod
• experimental powders
• graduated cylinders
• test tubes
• Florence flask
• funnel
• Safety glasses
• Test tube rack
• triple beam balance

Procedure: What steps will you take to make an experiment that will give you results that support your hypothesis?

1. Put on safety glasses or goggles. Tie back hair, consider safety before anything else.
2. Gather materials and equipment.
3. Put four test tubes into test tube rack.
4. Measure 20 mL of water using the graduated cylinder and put it into one of the test tubes. Repeat this procedure with the other 3 tubes.
5. Using the triple beam balance, measure 2 grams of each substance and place into each test tube
6. Place thumb over top of test tube and shake for 1 minute.
7. Make observations. Look for not dissolved solute at the bottom of the test tube. Look for particles suspended throughout the mixture and any other reactions between the solutes and the solvent.
8. Clean up and put away your materials and apparatus.
9. Draw conclusions

That is basically all that FE7B has covered so far. I'll blog next week!