Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Your daily kids news podcast
Wild wet weather and heatwave ahoy; Antarctica’s icy runway; Messi’s smelly jerseys; and who wants to go to Arandelle?
LINKS
My Country: by Dorothea Mackellar
https://www.dorotheamackellar.com.au/my-country/
Icy landing: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/boeing-787-dreamliner-lands-antarctica/index.html
YouTube’s Hit Pause: https://www.youtube.com/hitpause
Squiz Kids Book Club: https://www.squizkids.com.au/book_club/
Newshounds
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Classroom Companion:
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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]
THE LOWDOWN
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Hold on to your hats, people. Break out the gumboots and dust off your brolly … after weeks of El Nino-inspired heat and dry, the north and east of Australia is bunkering down for a week of wild wet weather.
The Bureau of Meteorology – which is a group of people who study air movement and satellites and weather patterns and tell us what’s going to be happening weather wise in the weeks and months ahead – yesterday said thunderstorms – with heavy rain and even hail – were on the cards for everyone from the Northern Territory down into Victoria as a traffic jam of weather systems took place above our heads.
Basically, something called a high pressure system above Tassie is pushing hot, humid air over the Coral Sea off Queensland – which is bumping into an existing low-pressure system over the inland of Australia and causing a whole lot of rain to fall.
Which is great if you’re a farmer, a gardener or a duck – but otherwise …
Meanwhile: a shoutout to our friends in WA – where a heatwave is sweeping the state – bringing with it a string of record-breaking temperatures of above 35 degrees celsius.
And now would be a good time to recommend to you the Dorothea Mackellar poem, My Country … which says: ‘I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains.”
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 Antarctica .. or more specifically, a bunch of scientists flying in a Dreamliner jet have landed in Antarctica – on a runway made of ice.
It’s the first time a plane of that size has landed on the continent of Antarctica – where summer will soon be in full swing and the sun will be up for 24 hours … holy sleep mask!
The plane contained very precious cargo. A bunch of scientists who will now do really important work … all day long … because there’s plenty of daylight to do it in …
And yes: I’ve stuck a link to video of the icy landing in today’s episode notes .. you’re welcome.
CCC – a-ha – it’s the Classroom Companion Clarion – letting us know that Christie has made some excellent curriculum-aligned classroom worksheets to go with this news story … and today, it’s all about INFERENCE – and every teacher out there will know what I;m talking about .. check ‘em out by signing up to Squiz Kids Classroom on our website, squizkids.com.au .. a fun, free, curriculum-aligned pressie from us to you.
SPORT TIME
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This one’s straight out of the ‘Euugh’ file … world football superstar Lionel Messi is putting up for auction the jerseys he wore in the World Cup in Qatar last year.
That would be the World Cup that Argentina spectacularly won – and in which Messi played a starring role.
Messi announced yesterday he was going to sell his jerseys to the highest bidder – which is what an auction is. And the money he raises will go to a charity he helps fund for kids with rare diseases. So good on him for that.
Experts reckon the sale of Messi’s used football jerseys will bring in about $15 million … that’s a lot of money for a bunch of sweaty football jerseys. I’d pay someone that much to wash the stink out of my son’s football jerseys …
POP CULTURE CORNER
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Attention all Olaf-fans. If you’ve ever dreamed of visiting Arendelle and getting up close and personal with Elsa and Ana – then Hong Kong Disneyland has just the place for you.
I’m talking about Frozen – of course – and the news that the mouse house in Honkers has just opened a World of Frozen attraction … which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like – including Elsa’s Ice Palace, the snowflake-topped ice fountain and the clock tower where Anna and Prince Hans sing “Love is An Open Door” – which for the record I sing with my daughter Rosie in the car and I am the best at.
But what about rides, I hear you ask? How about the Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs rollercoaster or the Frozen Ever After boat ride?
But the big question: will there be frozen fractals all around? And what’s a fractal anyway?
JOKE-A-THON
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Alright kids – look lively … it’s time to show Australia if you’ve got a funny bone! As mentioned last week, we’re putting together a Great Big Squiz Kids Joke-A-Thon for the upcoming Christmas school holidays – which is your chance to send in your funniest jokes for Christie and I to make a podcast out of them.
But you’d better be quick … entries for the Joke-A-Thon close on Monday …
If you’ve got a killer joke that you think will split the sides of Squiz Kids everywhere – email it through to [email protected].
And yes: there will be prizes … for the best individual joke – and the best bunch of jokes sent in by a whole classroom.
So what are you waiting for? Don’t just sit there … get emailing already!
AD STING + HOW FAR WE’VE COME #Sponsored
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To those parents and teachers listening, you might have heard the phrase giving a Gonski… Well, our friends at The Squiz are diving deep into it on Episode 5 of How Far We’ve Come, made with their podcast partner, NGS Super. They’re talking about how our schools get funded – We don’t need to tell you that it’s a big deal… and the topic is set to make big waves next year. Why? Because our federal, state, and territory governments are rolling up their sleeves to hash out how school funding will work for the next stretch. It’s the nitty-gritty of education policy, and you can give it a listen on the Squiz Today feed.”
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- On which frozen continent has a Dreamliner plane just landed for the first time?
- What national team does Lionel Messi play for in FIFA World Cups?
- In which Disneyland park has a new Frozen attraction just opened?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s November 22 … today is National Go Home On Time Day .. so make sure you get outta there the minute the bell rings …
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today… Pia from Yass, Heath from Oyster Bay, Emily from Flagstaff Hill, Lily from Tumbi Umbi, Sargun from The Ponds, Kalavah from Gulgong, Carter from Forest Lake, Ava and Daisy from Bathurst, Jasmine from Bayside and Evie from Sydney.
Belated shout outs go to… Amy from Sydney, Jamie from Doncaster, Holden from Bungonia, Genevieve from Tarrawanna and Kobi from Ashmont.
Classroom shout outs go to … class 3MC and Miss Coombes at Queenwood in Mosman, class 5JS and Mr Smith at St Therese’s Primary School in Bendigo, class 6RRI and Miss Riley at St Peter’s Girls’ School in Adelaide, class 6MV with Ms Valvo at St Martin of Tours Primary School in Rosanna, class 6B with Mr Frost at St Declan’s Catholic Primary School in Penshurst, class 3/4W with Miss Weise at Tarrawanna Public School, class 4 Narnia with Miss Cabral at Picnic Point Public School, class
5/6 Violet and Mr Harvey at Pelaw Main Public School, class 46 and Mrs Swain at Walcha Central School and lastly to all of the students at Port Elliot Primary School.
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The S’Quiz Answers:
- Antarctica
- Argentina
- Hong Kong