The Champion Hare

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Every few years, a sports contest takes place, Where animals come to jump and to race. The fittest, the fastest and strongest compete, All hoping to prove they’re a champion athlete. When a young hare enters the contest, he finds himself racing a cheetah and throwing shot put against a gorilla! He discovers that if you want to be a champion, nothing beats a bit of perseverance. Join our hopeful young hare as he runs, throws and jumps his way through this delightful rhyming story.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• Think about the word ‘Champion’. What does it mean? Can you think of other words that mean the same?
• Look at the use of rhyming in the story. Can you find any rhyming patterns? Look at the rhyming words and identify how they are spelt.
• Find the verbs in the story (e.g. jump, race, prove). How many of them can you find? Can you think of synonyms? Can you think of other verbs that might relate to sporting activities?
• The parrot ‘squawked loudly’. Think of other verbs and adverbs that might describe how animals could speak to each other.
• Could you write a new story about a sporting event that a different animal might compete in?

Maths

• Think about how different sporting events are measured. What equipment is used to measure the results (stopwatch, measuring tape etc). What units will each activity be measured in?
• Organise your own sporting activity and measure the results. Try repeating the activities and working out different averages (mean / median / mode).
• Find out world records for different sporting events. Can you plot these on a graph / chart?
• The hare takes part in a quarter-mile race. Find out about metric and imperial measurements and try to convert between them.

Science

• Research one of the animals in the story. What is their natural habitat? What do they eat? Do they have any special adaptations?
• Plan a healthy meal for someone taking place in a sporting competition.
• Find out about the animal footprints that might appear in the long jump event. How is each footprint similar / different?
• Research other activities that take place at the Olympics and other sporting events. What animals might be good at each activity?

Computing

• Design a poster to advertise the sports contest to other animals.
• Create a certificate to award to the winner of each event.

Art

• Design a new cover for the book.
• Draw pictures of people / animals taking part in different sports activities.

Geography

• Draw a map showing the locations of each of the events that the hare takes part in.
• Look at the illustrations in the story. Where in the world might the story be set? Try to find a sensible location on a map.

History

• Find out about the history of the Olympics and other sporting events. How did they begin? How have they changed over the years?

Physical education

• Plan some activities for your own sporting event.

PSHE

• Think about the moral of the story. What does it teach us?
• The hare doesn’t give up, despite losing most of the events. Think of a time when you wanted to give up at something. Did you persevere? What can we do to stop ourselves giving up on things so easily?