Thursday, October 26, 2023
Stepping up the fight against fake news; Scotland’s spooky skeletons; Celine Dion keeps Kiwis awake; and the giraffe who went on a road trip.
LINKS
Scotland’s 5000 year old skeletons:
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/tomb-neolithic-skeletons-intl-scli-scn/index.html
Giraffe on a freeway:
Squiz Kids Shortcut to Skeletons:
https://www.squizkids.com.au/squiz-kids-shortcuts/skeletons/
Squiz Kids Book Club: https://www.squizkids.com.au/book_club/
Newshounds
Get started on our free media literacy resource for classrooms
https://www.squizkids.com.au/about-newshounds/
Classroom Companion:
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THE LOWDOWN
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Hey look! (SNIFFING SOUND EFFECT) it’s Squiz-E the Newshound … and he’s popped up to the top of today’s podcast for a special occasion (HOWL)
A new survey, released this week has found that kids are falling for fake news all the time as they surf the internet and consume content on social media.
It’s a bit of a worrying trend, according to the university researchers who compiled the survey – released this week in Sydney as part of Media Literacy Week.
According to the report, only two in five kids know how to tell real news from fake news – or misinformation. And only one in four kids said they had received a lesson at school in the past year to help them work out if stories they come across online are true and can be trusted.
So why is any of this important? Because these days, where fewer and fewer young people get their news and information from traditional media – like the TV news or newspapers or radio – and more and more kids are scrolling though Instagram and TikTok and coming across videos – there’s never been a more important time for all of us – kids and adults – to improve our media literacy. Which is a fancy term for being a bit more critical when we come across any info online – and doing as our friend Squiz-E the Newshound always tells us … and that’s to STOP, THINK and CHECK.
The survey also found that kids get most of their news and information from their families .. which is also why people of all ages need to get better at telling online fact from fiction.
As you know – media literacy is something we bang on about a lot here at Squiz Kids .. and given that Newshounds, our free media literacy resource for primary school classrooms has been taken up and is being taught in more than 1,750 schools – and counting – it’s fair to say it’s a topic that lots of adults are concerned about too. I’ve stuck a link to Newshounds in today’s episode notes if you’re a curious cat and want to find out more. Thanks Squiz-E! (HOWL!)
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 Scotland … where archeologists have discovered an ancient tomb full of skeletons!
Spooky! Just in time for Halloween too ..
So what’s an archaeologist? It’s a person whose job it is to dig up the past … they generally spend a lot of time down in the dirt, digging up relics from the past that give us an idea of how humans lived thousands of years ago … it’s totally a thing.
These archeologists in Scotland have uncovered an ancient tomb that’s filled with skeletons estimate to be from the Neolithic era – so we’re talking from 5,000 years ago.
Can you even imagine a 5,000 year old skeleton? Well you don’t have to – because I’ve stuck photos of them in today’s episode notes.
It’s a really significant discovery – as scientists will now be able to examine the tomb for clues on how humans built stuff 5,000 years ago, and how advanced they were from an engineering point of view, and the skeletons themselves may reveal details about how Neolithic humans lived, what they ate and how different they were to humans today.
And if skeletons are your jam – and why wouldn’t they be – can I also recommend you jump into this week’s Squiz Kids Shortcut on Skeletons .. a super-cool, Halloween-inspired deep dive on the collection of bones that keep us all upright and active. I’ve stuck a link to that also in today’s episode notes.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT
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Motorists driving on the Hume Highway from Sydney to Canberra could hardly believe their eyes on Tuesday when a giraffe poked its head out from the back of a truck travelling in front of them.
Giraffes are known for walking across the savannahs of Africa – or maybe even for loping across their enclosures at zoos – but not so much for hurtling down a freeway at 100 kilometres per hour.
Turns out they were being transported from Australia Zoo in Queensland – crikey! – to Werribee Zoo in Victoria. Crikey – that’s a long road trip! Hope they had snacks and stopped for plenty of toilet breaks …
One passenger in a car behind took a photo of the giraffe – who looks perfectly happy to be on a road trip. Certainly happier than my kids have ever been while on a long road trip .. I’ve stuck links to the photos in today’s episode notes.
POP CULTURE CORNER
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And so we pop across the ditch to New Zealand, where residents of a small town are up in arms, tired of being woken in the middle of the night bt the sound of Celine Dion belting out her famous ballads.
Celine is a famous Canadian singer .. ask your parents or teacher … probably most famous for singing that song from the Titanic movie, “My Heart Will Go On” .. I’d sing you a bit here, but my kids have banned me from singing on the podcast.
Turns out groups of young Kiwis have taken to having what they call ‘siren battles’ in the middle of the night. Bas ically, they stack their cars with a bunch of loud-speakers and meet in parking lots in the middle of the night to play songs really loudly at one another. Kids today …
And their music of choice seems to be Celine Dion – because it has a lot of treble and not much bass – which is apparently really good for a siren battle. Maybe don’t try this at home ..
THE S’QUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- The giraffe on a road trip was being transported from which Australian state to Victoria?
- Approximately how old are the skeletons that were found in Scotland?
- Name the Canadian pop singer being used in Kiwi siren battles?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s October 26 … it’s singer Guy Sebastian’s birthday … and also the birthday of the lead pencil … if you can believe it, the first lead pencil was used on this day 531 years ago … so happy birthday lead pencils!
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today…
Denys from West Beach, Elijah from Seaford Rise, Patricia from Sydney, Toby from Kellyville and Jayden from Robina.
And belated shout outs go to Dane from Brighhton and Mackenzie from Grantville.
Classroom shout outs go to … class 5KG and Ms Grace at Mt Carmel Central School in Yass, year 6 with Ms Davies at St Joseph’s Primary School in Wagga Wagga, class 5B with Miss B arker at Bletchington Public School in Orange, class 5/6M with Mrs McCauley at Drummoyne Public School, Mrs Cole’s class at Redeemer Lutheran School in Nuriootpa, r Room 14 with Ms Pond at St Paul’s Catholic Primary School in Darwin, class 5/6M and Miss Matticoli at St John’s Catholic Primary School in Frankston, class HB3 with Mrs Khan at Woongarrah Public School, class 4 Blue with Mrs Kassara at Saint Ignatius College in Adelaide and class 4 White with Mrs Saroufim at St Felix Catholic Primary School in Bankstown.
Lastly, today a very special shout out to Frances and all of the kids in class 4C at Gardenvale Primary School in Melbourne.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Queensland
- 5,000 years
- Celine Dion