Friday, 16 December, 2022
Santa all set for his big night; France Argentina in World Cup final; the dad who outswam the kids; and our last pod for 2022.
LINKS
Santa Tracker – website: https://www.noradsanta.org/en/
Santa Tracker phone number:
The NORAD Santa Tracker phone line is + 1-877-HI-NORAD (+1-877-446-6723)
Santa’s house: https://www.zillow.com/house/santas-house/
Nicholas Santos’ swim: https://twitter.com/WorldAquatics/status/1602981270098612224?cxt=HHwWgMConZy-974sAAAA
Olivia gets a haircut for charity: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmFVdOmhxPc/?igshid=YTY2NzY3YTc%3D
Just Cuts
Newshounds
Get started on our free media literacy resource for classrooms: www.squizkids.com.au/newshounds
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Got a birthday coming up and you want a shout-out? Complete the form on our Squiz Kids website. Link: SHOUT OUTS or / send us an email at [email protected]
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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With only nine sleeps to go until Xmas morning – the world’s official Santa tracking service is bracing itself for what it expects will be its busiest year yet.
For 67 years now, the NORAD Santa Tracking unit has been operational out of its base in Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains of America.
Staffed by air force personnel and their families, it’s a call centre that kids from anywhere in the world can phone to track Santa’s progress as he undertakes his epic round-the-world journey on Christmas Eve.
Last year, the NORAD Santa Tracking centre took phone calls from some 53,000 kids from all over the world.
This year, they’re expecting even more calls and have put on an estimated 1,500 volunteers to answer phones and keep kids informed about Santa’s sleigh ride.
Questions kids most commonly ask are: Where is Santa and what time will he be at my house? Answer: depends where you live. I’m sleeping at my cousin’s house on Xmas Eve – will Santa find me? Answer: he’ll find you. Has Santa ever crashed? Answer: no. And: Am I on the naughty or nice list? Answer: you’ll have to wait and see …
There’s also a website that kids can visit to keep track of Santa in real time. I’ve stuck a link to it – and to the NORAD phone number in today’s episode notes.
And while you’re there: check out a link to photo gallery believed to be Santa’s home in the North Pole, posted to a US real estate website this week. There’s no sign of Jolly St Nick himself, but an Elf Village, a cosy fireplace and a familiar looking red-and-white overcoat hanging in the hallway. Just sayin …
And as this is our last edition of Squiz Kids Today for the year – can I take this opportunity on behalf of all of us here at Squiz Kids HQ, to wish you all a happy and safe festive season …
SPIN THE GLOBE
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Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops .. and today we’ve landed in France – where there were wild scenes of celebration yesterday after France beat Morocco in the World Cup semi-finals to advance to this weekend’s big final against Argentina.
After weeks of games in the desert kingdom of Qatar, it’s now down to these two teams – and, more specifically, two players on those teams in the shape of Argentina’s Lionel Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappe … both ranked among the best players in the world.
And while France was celebrating yesterday, the story was a little different in Morocco – where not even the accomplishment of being the first African nation to make a World Cup semi was able to ease the sting of their loss.
The World Cup grand final kicks off at 6pm Qatar time on Sunday – which is rather inconveniently 2am Monday our time. That’s going to hurt.
France is the first country to reach back-to-back finals since Brazil in 2002 .. and if it wins on Sunday, it will be the first time in 60 years that a country has won back to back World Cups.
Allez les bleus!
SQUIZ KIDS SALUTES
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A bit of a double-header – because it’s the last edition of the year.
And first up: a big Squiz Kids Salute to Nicholas Santos, the 42 yo father from Brazil who beat competitors half his age at the Shortcourse Swimming champs in Melbourne om Wed night to win gold in the 50m butterfly event. Fellow dads listening out there – if you’re looking for a bit of New Year fitness inspo – I’ve stuck a link to his race in today’s episode notes.
And it’s also a big festive salute to five year old Olivia from Queanbeyan near Canberra who chopped her hair off this week for charity.
In front of her entire school, Olivia bravely let her parents chop off her two long pig-tails raising more than $5000 to help people with cancer. What a generous gesture, Olivia. I’ve stuck a link to video of Olivia’s selfless act in today’s episode notes – in the spirit of the season of giving.
HAIRCUT CHALLENGE
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Speaking of haircuts … the time has come to reveal the ultimate hair style, as voted by you, the kids of Australia.
All week we’ve been asking you to email in which hair style you would get if you could have any hair style in the world ..and the responses have been epic.
Mullets seem to be the most popular by a loonng shot – closely followed by braids and what we’ll call the Hermione Granger .. which I suppose you could also call bed head.
And as promised: each Squiz Kid that wrote to us automatically went into the draw to win a year’s worth of style cuts for the whole family – plus a family pack of Just Cuts new range of kids hair-care products …
And the winners are…
| NSW | Chloe | A rainbow braid into a Viking bun. |
| VIC | Aashi | Hermione Granger hairstyle. |
| TAS | Thomas | a green mullet with purple streaks and lots of gel |
| WA | Logan | Bowl cut. |
| QLD | Genevieve | Hermione Granger from Harry Potter As it’s curly, beautiful and magic. |
You’ve all won for yourselves and your family a year’s worth of style cuts plus a family pack of the JUSTICE Professional Kids range – including Tutti-Frutti tear-free shampoo, tangle-free conditioner and a texturising wax … Exclusive to Just Cuts salons or available at justcuts.com.
Huge congratulations to our winners – just think how stylish you and your family are going to look all year …
And thanks to Just Cuts – where I will be heading now to sort my mop out for Christmas …
SUMMER CONTENT
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This is it my friends – the final edition of Squiz Kids Today for the year.
But don’t fret. We’ve got you covered with a bunch of excellent summer school holiday content scheduled to drop over the next six weeks.
On Mondays, there’ll be a Squiz Kids Shortcut – a deep dive into a big topic. Every Wednesday morning, the Squiz Kids superfast supersonic jetliner will depart to a different country in an episode of Squiz The World … and each Saturday, we’ll have a Kids vs Adults Bumper S’Quiz…. your chance to challenge the adults in your life and prove once and for all that kids are smarter than grownups.
Make sure you’ve subscribed to Squiz Kids in your favourite podcasting app and the eps will pop-up in your feed as they drop
THE SQUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- Where in the world does Santa live?
- Which team will France face in the World Cup final on Sunday?
- When will Squiz Kids Today be back on the air? Mon Jan 30 – but there’s heaps of summer content between now and then ..
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s December 16 … only 9 sleeps ‘til Xmas … deck the halls, people.
It’s also a Friday and the final episode of Squiz Kids for the year and we have an EPIC number of Shout Outs to get through …let’s crack out the ol’ birthday reggae tune .. hit it ..
It’s a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today …
Sammy from Abbotsford, Zac from Camden, Mick from Caulfield, Addison from Craigburn, Lachlan from Atwell, Elsie from Preston, Chloe from Caringbah, Daniel from Maroubra, Ritche from Erskineville, Arlo from Coburg, Isla from Ivanhoe and Jiwoo listening over in Korea.
And a belated birthday shout out goes to Aliyah from Woongarrah.
Not forgetting the Squiz Kids who are celebrating a birthday over the coming weekend… Jett from Shoal Bay, Stevie-Lee from Wagga Wagga, Mackenzie from Ellenbrook, Justin from Forest Lake, Ethan from Glen Waverley, Lucas from Kewsick, Lexie from Vermont South, Joseph travelling around Australia, Heather from Ellwood, Nellie from Bradbury, Finlay (pronounced Finn-lee) from Balgowlah, Hugo from Tamworth, Vivienne from Melbourne and Alex G from Clovelly.
And because a bunch of you will be celebrating birthdays in the second half of December, when we’re off-the-air, and we don’t want you to miss out – we’re going to be punching out ADVANCE birthday shout-outs … we’ll call them the Extra Special Xmas Baby Shout Outs …
Happy ‘early’ birthday to… Nash from Valentine, Toby from Broken Hill, Izzie from Wagga Wagga, Lucy from Green Valley, Lewis from Mt Pleasant, Gwen from Macleod and Phoebe from Singapore.
Final classroom shout outs for the year go to… class 3/4R and Mrs Gillan at Berkeley Vale Public School, class 1L and Mrs Lane at Blayney Public School, class 5/6 J & N and Miss James at St John’s Parish Primary School in Cobar and to class 6RHE and Mrs Heidenreich at the Australian International School in Ho Chi Minh City.
Sorry if we didn’t get to your Classroom this year … be sure to get in touch with us when school is back next year and we’ll be sure to give you a shout out..
The S’Quiz Answers:
- North Pole
- Argentina
- Monday January 30