Tuesday, 1 March, 2022
Rain bomb moves south, Lismore goes under; School on wheels in the Philippines; an epic penalty shoot-out; and Hank The Tank has friends.
LINKS
Mice + frog hitch a ride on a snake: https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-flood-update-mice-frogs-hitch-ride-on-snake-to-escape-rising-waters/ba8b7a01-b7d0-4efb-816d-dd281e9f402d
Epic football penalty shoot-out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vwl5GYaWWM
Panda roll: https://twitter.com/buitengebieden_/status/1498008292479668225
Aaron Blabey – Bad Guys author – Q+A
Bad Guys movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Xt0yXaDPU
Meet the Bad Guys: Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6WAdMEJaqo
Squiz Kids for Schools: https://www.squizkids.com.au/squiz-kids-for-schools/
Squiz Kids Apple Subscriber Content: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/squiz-kids/id1494238283
How To Become A Squiz Kids Correspondent: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FH2HA28InnLU6UxE91wrLBAbCMT40Mua/view
Squiz Kids Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squizkids/?hl=en
Got a birthday coming up and you want a shout-out? Send us an email at [email protected]
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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As Brisbane woke yesterday to scenes of devastation from the worst floods in a decade, the rain bomb moved south to the northern part of NSW – creating what emergency services officials are calling a ‘natural disaster of unprecedented proportions’.
Some 35,000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes in and around the town of Lismore as rain fell in record amounts, rivers rose to record levels and emergency services pulled entire families from their roofs as flood waters rose around them.
Late yesterday, it was estimated some 400 people were either missing or waiting to be rescued in the centre of Lismore. All day yesterday, Lismore locals used their boats, kayaks and pretty much anything that floated to rescue stranded neighbours. A team of visiting Fijian meat workers got busy and helped evacuate elderly residents of a nursing home.
The Lismore emergency came as Brisbane and Ipswich and the Sunshine Coast started to mop up .. with the Brisbane River peaking at near record levels yesterday – flooding up to 15,000 homes and crippling thousands of businesses. There was even a runaway crane on the river that sparked an emergency evacuation of the CBD.
Lots of schools across the region will be closed again today.
And the danger is not over yet. With more rainfall forecast for the Lismore and Northern Rivers area, the situation there is predicted to get worse before it gets better. Stay safe out there Northern Rivers Squiz Kids ..
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 the Philippines, where thousands of kids have a new classroom, in the form of a brightly decorated railway trolley. What’s a railway trolley, you ask? It’s a flat wooden platform with wheels that travels up and down a railway track.
Okay, so HOW and WHY is a railway trolley being used as a classroom? Well, many schools in the Philippines are still closed due to the pandemic, and for kids whose families live in villages, it’s hard to do remote learning. Some of them have had to climb on a roof to get a n internet signal… and others simply don’t have the money to afford computers, phones, or Internet access. So, a group of volunteer teachers got together, collected donated school supplies, and started pushing their portable school trolley village to village – conducting lessons everywhere they stop.
The tiny mobile classroom comes three times a week to each of the villages. When they arrive, the teachers lift the trolley off the tracks so trains can pass, and get to work, teaching reading, writing, and maths. So just like your day at school… except when the lesson’s done, the teacher rolls away. Genius.
SPORT TIME
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We love a good penalty shoot out here at Squiz Kids … no actually, that’s not true, we find them a really stressful way to decide a draw in a football match – and always feel sorry for the goalies.
Well – spare a thought for the goalies of English clubs Liverpool and Chelsea – who had to face off in a penalty shoot out that went to 21 points.
Yep – the final of the English League Cup finished was a nil-all draw – and it took 10 players from each team to shoot 20 successful penalties/ That’s 10 penalties each that the goalies were not able to stop – because, that’s really hard to do …
In the end, it came down to the two goalies having a penalty kick at goal … with Liverpool’s goalie nailing his shot, and Chelsea’s goalie sending his over the top of the cross bar. Ouch – now that’s gotta hurt.
There’s a link to video of the incredible penalty shoot out in today’s episode notes.
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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Remember last week we brought you the story of Hank The Tank? The massive black bear that was terrorising neighbourhoods of Lake Tahoe in the United States?
Turns out Hank is in fact three different bears. And that they’ve been working as a posse – breaking into homes and helping themselves to whatever food they can find inside.
Local park rangers analysed DNA left behind after the Hank attacks – and discovered that there were three separate types – meaning Hank has friends and they are working over the Lake Tahoe area in tandem.
In tandem is a fancy way of saying they are working together.
The bears have come to associate people’s homes with an easy source of food, according to officials – who say they plan to trap the house-breaking bunch of bears and relocate them.
Given that each bear weighs around 250 kilograms each – and you’d have to imagine they’re not all that interested in being moved from the kitchens and pantries they’ve come to love so much – that’s going to have to be one big trap.
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 …
- In which country is a school on wheels up and running?
- How many bears are believed to be in Hank The Tank’s posse?
- What’s the name of the town in northern NSW that was swallowed by floodwaters yesterday?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s March 1… Today is Mardi Gras – which, directly translated from French, means Fat Tuesday .. the last day of pigging out for Christians before Lent begins – which is when devout Christians give up certain luxuries and indulgences for the 40 days leading into Easter. It’s also called Shrove Tuesday and is traditionally celebrated by the scoffing of pancakes. Mmmm. Pancakes …
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today …
Vivienne from Brisbane and Lily from Kings Langley.
And belated birthday wishes go to… Wren from Walpole and Janek and Avisha from Donvale.
Classroom shout outs go to … class 5/6P with Miss Pires at Carlingford Public school, class 3H and Mr Hughes at Cronulla Public School and to class 2/3/4 from Millfield Public School.
And a very special shout out from Squiz-E the Newshound and his doggie friend, Beau, to the students of Mt Carmel School in Yass, NSW. Amanda and Beau visited on Friday, and they were BOTH made to feel very welcome!
The S’Quiz Answers:
- The Philippines
- Three
- Lismore