POETRY BREAK: REFRAIN

FIVE CHANTS is a poem by David McCord

that contains a repeated line, called a Refrain.

"Every time I climb a tree" is the refrain.

"Five Chants" by David McCord is taken from THE EARTH IS PAINTED GREEN: A GARDEN OF POEMS ABOUT OUR PLANET. Editor, Barbara Brenner. 1994. Scholastic.

Introduction:  Ask students how many of them have ever climbed a tree?  (Students who live in the city may not have access to trees, but could improvise with something like a fire escape.) What did you see when you were in a tree?  How did you feel when you were in the tree?

After sharing personal experiences, invite students to listen to the poem about climbing a tree.

      FIVE CHANTS

Every time I climb a tree

Every time I climb a tree

Every time I climb a tree

I scrape a leg

or skin a knee.

And every time I climb a tree

I find some ants

or dodge a bee

And get the ants

All over me.

And every time I climb a tree

Where have you been?

They say to me

But don't they know that I am free

Every time I climb a tree?

I like it best

to spot a nest 

That has an egg

or maybe three

And then I skin 

the other leg.

But every time I climb a tree

I see a lot of things to see

Swallows, rooftops and TV

And all the fields and farms there be

Every time I climb a tree.

Though climbing may be good for ants

It isn't awfully good for pants

But still it's pretty good for me

Every time I climb a tree.

Extension:  After reading the poem a few times, have students write or illustrate something they do or would like to do that allows them to feel free, like the person in the poem.