One thing I value in other people is when they have a great emotional understanding. I think it’s really mature when people know how to handle emotionally complex things like crying, being angry, being unable to understand why you, or somebody else, is so sensitive, and a lot more. I value it because I, as a person that doesn’t show much empathy, find it challenging to understand emotions and truly comfort people when they’re struggling with theirs. And I also understand that there isn’t a big amount of people who are emotionally understanding, so I value it more.

Maybe it’s just because my standards are high, but I really do value this in others.

What do you value in other people?

As a part of the Arts group for leadership, my team has to make a club or something productive that’s art related for the younger kids.

The Arts group contains Me, Ivy, Harper, Eden, Ruby, Hannah, Mila, Serah, Cheyenne, Amelia, Indi, and Miriam. The Visual Arts team, Me, Serah, and Cheyenne, have just done our first club session.

It went relatively okay, like the productivity and the vibes the children brought to the art space, but there were also some things we would like to improve throughout the year. Some of our work-ons include the noise level and the children not putting their hands up.

But it’s okay, we still have three more terms to work on that stuff.

If you were a part of the Visual Arts team, what would you teach the kids first?

This week, for R.E, we’ve been focused on making an artwork representing the events of Holy Week. More importantly, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.

We were given a blank sheet of paper and had to fold it into thirds for our sketch. In my first third of paper I had drawn a chalice along with a loaf of bread. For my second column of paper I had drawn a crown made from thorn vines. And for my third column I had drawn my interpretation of the empty tomb that Jesus was buried in.

After we got our sketches done we had to do the actual thing, color it in, stick it onto a piece of black paper, and cut it out. I didn’t really like my artwork, but I tried to make it good quality.

If you could make your Triduum artwork stand out, how would you do it?

This week, we focused on statistics for maths. My group consisted of Ivy, Juliana, and Emilie.

Our topic was on how Farmers was making a bag for the year 8s. We got a bunch of little cards with data from the yr 8s  which included neck circumference, how heavy their bags were, their gender, how long it took for them to get to school, and more.

We had to collect some data that would help us with giving advice to Farmers and then turn it into a graph on a Google spreadsheet. Then we had to make a slideshow for our graph. My group made an I wonder slide, a slide for our data, and a statement to Farmers slide.

Here is our slideshow and the link is on the photo.

These past few weeks we’ve been making books for the children in the nest. My book revolves around this cat (Mox) and the fact she doesn’t like anything but her box. I made my book on Canva because it was easier for me to work with.

It was Wednesday when we read our books to the nest. I read to my little sister Rhyzia and my bestie (Hannah O’Connell) read her book to my sister as well.

Mox and Her Box

This term my class has been doing a novel study. We’ve been reviewing different parts of each chapter such as sentences and what some characters did. There were some gruesome scenes in the book, such as Rawiri’s cousin getting run over then dying, and the herd of whales washing ashore and men using chainsaws to cut their jaw off.

I enjoyed reading the detailed lines about nature and the description of Kahu when she was happy. There was also a scene where Rawiri’s roommate mistook Kahu for a beautiful lady and talked about her “soft, kissable lips” when she was actually a child, which Claire L and I found hilarious.

There were also some scenes that made me uncomfortable like Rawiri’s roommate’s parents being racist because it fit a little bit close to home because I’m an immigrant but it turned out fine in the end and besides that I really enjoyed reading the book.

Last week we began an information report about any animal native to New Zealand. This week I finished it and edited it. I put a lot of work into researching and editing my information report. My animal was the Hochstetter’s frog which got their name from Ferdinand von Hochstetter.

Here is my information report

Have you ever heard of Hochstetter’s frog? Do you know how they got their name? Hochstetter’s frog, also known as Pepeketua, are one of the four frogs in the family Leiopelmatidae and have some of the most ancient features in any remaining frogs alive globally. The Hoschstetter frogs are a prehistoric and primitive group of frogs, their features have barely changed in 70 million years. Pepeketua are indigenous to New Zealand.

https://www.tewhakakahatrust.org.nz/hochstetter-frog/

Physical features
Pepeketua males are smaller compared to females, most males grow up to 38mm (1.5 inches) while females grow to around 50mm (2.0 inches). These frogs are nocturnal meaning they come out at night and stay under refuge during the day. Pepeketua likes to hide in moist crevices under rocks and logs beneath shaded areas. They can camouflage into their habitats because of their appearance. Pepeketua can blend into the trees and match the mossy tones of their environment. They have hues of greenish-brown or brownish-red, they also have biscotti (a yellowish-brown color) or hazelnut colored bellies. Sometimes they can have dark bands and warts around their bodies.

Habitats
Hochstetter frogs live semi-aquatic lives, spending their time near stream-edges. They were widespread throughout the South and North islands several years ago but their population declined over the past 200 years. Pepeketua are now sighted around the upper half of the North island, they are also spotted around Waipu, the Great Barrier island, and the Raukumara ranges. Ten populations of these frogs have been found to be genetically distinct, due to the history of glacial isolation.

Threats and predators
Hochstetter frogs are highly vulnerable to invasive species such as rodents. Rats, goats, and pigs have caused a massive decline in the Hochstetter frogs population. The Polynesian rats that were brought to New Zealand by the Maori people caused an extinction of Pepeketua in the South island and a destruction of Populations in the North island over a few years. Pepeketua are also extremely sensitive to the disease in the air because they absorb chemicals through their semi-permeable skin. Agriculture and deforestation can cause issues in water quality.

Diet
Hochstetter frogs feed on invertebrates such as worms, spiders, beetles, mites, snails, and other insects. They are carnivores and nocturnal hunters meaning they hunt in the night. Like most frogs, Hochstetter frogs will generally eat invertebrates that are still alive. Once they have their prey they use their arms to hold the insect and gulp down. When the food passes through the frogs mouth into the stomach, the food moves into the small intestine, where most of the digestion happens. Large digestive glands, the liver and the pancreas, are all attached to the digestive system by ducts. Pepeketua can’t extend their tongues meaning they lack the ability to catch prey by sticking out their tongue.

Linnaean classification of the Pepeketua

Kingdom: Animal

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Amphibia

Order: Anura

Family: Leiopelmatidae

Genus: Leiopelma

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochstetter%27s_frog

https://savethefrogs.com/wp-content/uploads/pepeketua-nz-native-frogs-lowres.pdf

https://www.google.com/search?q=hochstetter%27s+frog&rlz=1CAOFBT_enNZ1097&oq=&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgAEEUYOxjCAzIJCAAQRRg7GMIDMgkIARBFGDsYwgMyCQgCEEUYOxjCAzIJCAMQRRg7GMIDMgkIBBBFGDsYwgMyCQgFEEUYOxjCAzIJCAYQRRg7GMIDMgkIBxBFGDsYwgPSAQk1Mjg1OGowajeoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on

This week my hub got to make a poem about Laudato Si. It could be any type of poem so I chose to do an acrostic poem. the word I decided to use was creation. I put in a lot of effort to make the poem as best as it could be and I struggled with some of the letters. I believe it can be better but I don’t know how.

Here’s my poem

Today me and some of my hub went to the Groynes so that we could learn about the wildlife that lives there. Once we got there the ranger gave us a tour around the nature trail. we learned about the different trees around the Groynes, the ranger taught us about native and non-native trees. my favorites were the lemon wood tree because of the scent of its leaves and the kowhai tree because of their easy to rip off leaves.  When we got to the bridge we got a brief description of the ducks that were around. Once we got to the other side we got to search for insects in the water. We had to get in a group of 4 and get a station where there were 2 mini plastic spoons, 2 sieves on a stick and 2 magnifying glasses. at our station we had 2 containers, 1 had compartments and both were filled with water. The instructor showed us how to collect water insects using the sieves. They told us that most water insects stay under plants because the insects didn’t want to be bird food so we had to sway the sieves slowly under the water plants that were near the shore. My group got 4 water boatmen, 3 water fleas, and 3 cyclopes. Once we cleaned that up we got to play a game where there was 1 paradise shelduck, 3 damselflies, 8 water boatmen, and 11 water plants. It was a game of survival where 1 had to eat the other. I was a water plant. To survive I needed water, the sun, and some soil.

I had lots of fun on my trip to the Groynes and enjoyed learning new information about freshwater habitats. My favorite part of the entire trip was probably getting to learn more about damselflies and learning more about the lemon wood tree.

This week my class learned about Catholicism in Mexico. When we finished that we got to pick a country and find information about Catholicism there. I picked Italy because that’s where most Saints and important Christians originate from.

Here is my work!