Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Moon wars in outer space; Mexican goalie wows the world; Sniffing out Voice misinformation; and there’s a bear up there.
LINKS
Today’s Quick Links:
Goalie scores match winner: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/15/football/santiago-ramirez-goal-morelia-celaya-spt-intl/index.html
Bear up a tree: https://apnews.com/article/michigan-bear-tree-mattress-mothers-day-033043e1e79a5ec5eb56d9bc612203b7
Kids + Media Survey Results: https://www.squizkids.com.au/aussie-kids-media-results/
Squiz Kids Book Club: https://www.squizkids.com.au/book_club/april-2023/
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]
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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You’ve heard of Star Wars, right? Now get ready for Moon Wars – as our solar system’s two largest planets muscle up and take each other on for the title of who has the most moons.
I’m talking about Saturn and Jupiter – the two biggest planets in our solar system. And I’m talking about the fact that for months now, they’ve been duking it out to see which planet has more moons orbiting it.
In February, scientists declared that Jupiter had the most moons of any planet in our solar system with 92 spinning in orbit around it.
But now thanks to some clever new star gazing technology from a group of astronomers based in Taiwan which uncovered 62 new, never-before-spotted moons in orbit around Saturn – the ringed-planet has stolen the Moon King crown off its bigger counterpart.
According to the Taiwanese team, Saturn has a whopping 145 moons spinning around it. Which is 53 more moons than Jupiter.
Go Saturn!
And get this … some of the moons in orbit around Saturn are as small as 2.4 kilometres across – which is pretty small for a moon. So imagine the size of the telescope being used to spot those babies.
But Saturn better not rest on its laurels too long .. the same technology that uncovered a whole bunch of new moons around Saturn could soon discover a bunch of new moons around Jupiter.
May the force be with it …
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 United States – in the town of Traverse City to be exact, where residents got the shock of their lives this Mother’s Day when they woke to find a 150kg bear stuck up a tree.
I mean, I’ve heard of cats stuck up trees – but bears?
The local fire brigade was called in to try to coax it down, before local wildlife officers decided a few tranquiliser darts in the bum would hurry up proceedings. A tranquiliser dart is a way to make an animal temporarily drift off to sleep – which is what happened, causing the bear to fall down onto a pile of mattresses that local residents had dragged out of their homes to break the bear’s fall.
The bear was then trucked off to a nearby forest and left to carry on with his day. Imagine waking up in the middle of a forest and not remembering how you got down out of the tree …
SPORT TIME
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This one’s for all the goalies out there … all of you kids who spend your weekends in goal, or play for the school team and have put your hand up to do what I reckon is the hardest job on the paddock.
Well there was a delicious moment of what we’ll call ‘goalie’s revenge’ at the weekend in Mexico when, during a high-stakes semi-final match a goalie punted the ball from one end of the field to the other to score a goal that sent them into the grand final.
I’ve stuck a link to video of it in today’s episode notes – because it has to be seen to be believed ..
In the dying minutes of the game, the team Celaya sent all of its players up into the opposing team Atletico’s goal box during a corner – in the hope of scoring. But when Atletico’s goalie saved the goal – and noticed that Celaya’s goals down the other end of the field were wide open – he punted the ball and watched on in amazement as it bounced once, then twice, then hit the back of the net.
And the crowd went wild …
NEWSHOUNDS
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Every Wednesday, Squiz-E the Newshound sticks his snout into Squiz Kids HQ to report back on fishy things he’s sniffed out on the internet … and today he’s nose is twitching having come across a whole bunch of misinformation on social media around the upcoming Voice to Parliament referendum.
You’ve probably heard around the traps how there will be a big vote at the end of this year around something called the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. It’s essentially a vote that all Australians over the age of 18 will take part in to decide whether Indigenous Australians should be recognised in our Constitution.
And what Squiz E has found is what often happens around the time of elections and votes like this one. And that is all sorts of untrue information being spread on social media. In this instance, it’s a Facebook post making untrue claims about how an Indigenous Voice to Parliament would mean public beaches would be out of bounds for non-indigenous Australians, university would be free for indigenous Australians and landowners would have to pay rent to local Aboriginal people. None of which are true.
Sadly, as we get closer to the vote – there will be more and more of this sort of misinformation swirling about on social media. Because on social media: pretty much anyone can say pretty much anything they like without it having to be true.
It’s another excellent reason to always do as Squiz-E the Newshound says and STOP, THINK and CHECK whenever you come across any piece of information online.
And if you’re not one of the more than 1000 classroom who have signed up to do Newshounds, our free media literacy course for primary school kids – then head to squizkids.com.au right now and get involved. Because Squiz Kids are too smart to be fooled by fake news.
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 …
- Name the two largest planets in our solar system.
- In which country did a goalie score a field-length goal on the weekend?
- What sort of animal was stuck up a tree in Traverse City?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s May 17 – on this day 123 years ago, a book called The Wizard of Oz was first published … and on this day 14 years ago, an online game called Minecraft was first released … happy birthday to both of them …
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today … Bray from Cronulla, Olivia from Malvern East, Dakota from Jugiong, Sadie from Lorne, Sabrina from Ruse, Senuk from Bracken Ridge, Doyun listening over in Seoul, South Korea and Paigey listening in Los Angeles, USA.
Belated shout outs go to Tiago from Watsonia and Sophia from Port Macquarie.
And now for some Classroom Shoutouts… class 5/6N and Mr Newman at Panania Public School, class 6L and Mr Love at Oxford Falls Grammar in Sydney, class 5RB and Ms Baker at Everton Park State School, class HB4 and Mrs McLean at Woongarrah Public School, Mrs Gandaputra’s class at Chatswood Public School and lastly to class 5W and Mr Walker at Waitara Public School.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Jupiter and Saturn
- Mexico
- Bear