Wednesday, 8 March, 2023
Bumper crop for Aussie farmers; Botox for burpers; clamping down on TikTok; and celebrating International Women’s Day.
LINKS
Kids + Media Survey:
Are you a parent, guardian or teacher of primary school kids? Then help us paint a picture of Aussie kids and their media habits by filling out this quick, two minute survey. Thank you in advance!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZBTHR35
Today’s Quick Links:
Australian farming sets $90b record: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-07/farm-sector-sets-90-billion-record-abares-reveals/102059398
International Women’s Day 2023: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-64723201.amp
What’s International Women’s Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj9-58FBc2A
TikTok banned by 25 government departments and agencies: https://www.afr.com/technology/tiktok-banned-by-25-government-departments-and-agencies-20230303-p5cp4o
The Squiz (for adults): https://www.thesquiz.com.au/
Dig Deeper:
Interest rates and commercial banking for kids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4MdL5wgCKE
About monetary policy:https://www.rba.gov.au/monetary-policy/about.html
International Women’s Day: more classroom resources:
https://internationalwomensday.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/resources/IWD-Classroom-Activity-Cards.pdf
http://internationalwomensday.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/resources/IWD-WorldAssociationofGirlGuidesandGirlScouts-ActivityPack.pdf
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2455688611239633
More about retrograde cricopharyngeal dysfunction: https://laryngopedia.com/cant-burp-you-may-have-r-cpd-the-inability-to-burp/
Using one of the deadliest neurotoxins for beauty … and medicine?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaqpoNi5dog
Classroom Companion
Teachers! Want to access free, curriculum-aligned classroom resources tied to the daily podcast? Sign up to be a Squiz Kids Classroom and download the Classroom Companion each day. Made by teachers for teachers, differentiated to suit all primary school ability levels. And did we mention it’s free?
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]
THE LOWDOWN
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You probably noticed the news yesterday was full of talk about interest rates .. and while I know the very mention of those two words makes you roll your eyes – there’s something important you need to know.
Interest rates refers to the amount of interest your mum or dad will pay on the money they borrowed to buy your house if they already have one – or, if they are planning to buy one, the amount of money they will need to pay a bank to borrow money to buy a house.
The higher interest rates go, the more money mums and dads have to spend to pay for the roof over your head, and the less money they have to spend on other things. And I mean everything from groceries and electricity bills to take-away dinners and holidays – and the less money mum and dad have to spend on stuff, the less money that is being spread around the economy. It’s all connected. So yes: while it might sound boring, it’s really important.
So the fact the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates yesterday for the 10th month in a row is a news story that impacts lots of people.
And that’s your economics lesson for the day.
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While we’re in the economics ballpark: there was good news from our farmer friends yesterday – who had their most successful year on record last year – thanks to all that rain that fell across the country.
In the past year, Australian farmers grew some $90billion – that’s billion with a B – worth of food and fibre – as wet weather created perfect conditions for growing. See, every cloud does have a silver lining.
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 everywhere! That’s because March 8 is International Women’s Day.
On International Women’s Day, all across the world, the achievements of women are celebrated and there are marches and festivals and in some places – protests to raise awareness for the inequality that still exists between women and men.
The official theme this year is DigitALL. Celebrating the achievements of women and girls in technology and in online education, while also promoting technology that supports gender equality. Gender equality is a fancy way of saying girls and boys – men and women – have the same opportunities in life. Which is a no brainer, right?
But is there an International Men’s Day I hear you ask? Although it hasn’t been officially recognised by the UN, more than 80 countries celebrate the positive value men bring to the world, their families and communities on November 19.
So make sure that you say a big thankyou to all of the wonderful women in your life today. You literally wouldn’t be here without them!
WEIRD SCIENCE
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Has an adult ever told you to stop burping? Well they should be thankful that you can burp, because there are some people who haven’t been able to….ever! …up to now.
A recently identified condition called (retrograde cricopharyngeal dysfunction or) R-CPD for short, is responsible. You see: there’s a muscle that forms a loop around your oesophagus, that’s the tube that connects your throat to your stomach. That muscle relaxes to allow food to travel down to your stomach then contracts or tightens, to prevent it coming back up again. If you have R-CPD, the no-burp condition, that muscle won’t relax enough to allow any gas back up.
And that’s not good because if you don’t burp – the whole digestive system, stomach, intestines and bowel to fill with gas and stretch. It’s really painful and results in excessive flatulence (that’s a fancy word for farts) [FART] because all that gas has got to come out somewhere, right!?
But now, an unlikely hero has emerged in the form of a tiny bacterium called Clostridium Botulinum. The toxin produced by these bacteria paralyses muscles. Maybe you’ve heard of botox?
When doctors inject Botox into the troublesome muscle it relaxes just enough to allow the sufferer the relief of a great big belch. [BURP] Ahhhhh that’s better.
NEWSHOUNDS
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Every Wednesday, Squiz-E the Newshound sticks his snout into Squiz Kids HQ to report back on fishy goings on he’s sniffed out on the internet.
And this week, his nose has been twitching overtime in response to the news that the Australian government has banned the downloading of TikTok onto its devices. It means if you’re a student or teacher with an Department of Education issued ipad – you won’t be able to get your TikTok on. And the reason? Concerns over what the popular social media app does with your personal data. It’s a timely reminder, according to Squiz-E to STOP, THINK and CHECK each time you interact with any app – be it social media or otherwise – to see what that app is doing with the personal information you give it. Is it monitoring your activity within the app? And what is it doing with that data? Where is it being shared? Because being smart on social media user is really important. Thanks Squiz-E! What would we do without you?
THE SQUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- What noisy bodily function is the sign of a healthy gut and a properly functioning oesophagus?
- What did the Reserve Bank raise yesterday for the 10th month in a row?
- What international day is celebrated around the world today?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s March 8 – today’s the 6th birthday of our stablemate podcast and newsletter, The Squiz .. if you like what we do for kids – you’ll love what they do for big people.
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today…
Harry from Yass, Isabella from Gundagai, William from Abbotsford, Alexis from Unanderra and Hayden from Baulkham Hills.
And belated shout outs go to… Larissa from Lake Bolac, Noor from Spring Mountain, Jonathan listening from Taiwan and YeSung listening from Vietnam.
Today’s Classroom Shoutouts go to …class SP1 and Mr Blythe at St Pius X Parish School in Warrnambool, the buninje class with Mrs Wilkinson at Tabulam Public School, class 3-6M with Mrs Montgomery at Bradbury Public School, class 5/6S with Miss Skinner at Panania Public School, class 4/5S with Miss Shiu at Canley Vale Public School and class 5/6K and Mrs King at Mandama Primary School in Grovedale.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Burping
- Interest Rates
- International Women’s Day