A Whole School Writing Root for The Rabbits

Outcomes:

Postcard, formal speech, estate agent brochure, diary entry

Main Outcome:

Balanced argument 

Length:

15 sessions, 3 weeks

Overview and Outcomes:

This Catch-Up Writing Root begins when children arrive to find their classroom has been invaded by an unseen ‘new class’. Children will discuss what it feels like to be invaded and the connections between invasion and belonging. Through the sequence of learning children will consider events from both perspectives, writing postcards, speeches and diary entries in role as characters from both sides. After taking part in a classroom debate about whether the Rabbits should have invaded or not, the children will go on to write a balanced argument to explore contrasting viewpoints before finally stating their own opinions. 

Synopsis of Text:

A hauntingly beautiful picture book from the acclaimed Shaun Tan, winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal 2020, Academy Award and Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, 

The rabbits came many grandparents ago. 
They built houses, made roads, had children. 
They cut down trees.
A whole continent of rabbits... 

The Rabbits is a thought-provoking allegorical fable about colonisation and the effect of man on the environment. 

Told from the perspective of the colonised, an unseen narrator describes the coming of the 'rabbits'. An encounter that is at first friendly and curious, but later darkens... Sparse, strange and stunningly beautiful, The Rabbits is a truly unique picture book.

Links:

Rabbits, invasion, belonging