Silly Little Squirrel: A Poem
A Fun Poem Inspired by a Squirrel
Silly Little Squirrel
Silly little squirrel outside my window
What have you found?
A little snack to tuck away
When frozen is the ground.
Silly little squirrel outside my window
Doing your acrobatics.
Don’t you know that we’re inside
Doing our mathematics?
Silly little squirrel outside my window
Who have you brought today?
A friend or two? No make that five,
But you are not here to play.
Silly little squirrel outside my window
The seeds are almost gone.
What will you find to eat
When winter is cold and long?
Silly little squirrel outside my window
We will see you next fall
When the seeds are ready to harvest
We will watch you eat them all!
Inspiration for this poem.
Last spring a colleague of mine planted about a dozen tiny sunflower plants in flower beds outside my classroom window. As we left for summer vacation the plants were just about 6 inches tall. I knew that when I returned in the fall I would be in for a wonderful treat.
As I pulled down the street at the end of August, the towering, majestic sunflowers overwhelmed me. They stood in such stately beauty that I wondered why this was the first time anyone had ever done this. I promptly made a mental note that I would be sure to continue to plant them, even if he did not.
My students and I watched as the beautiful flowers slowly turned to seed. Little did we know that as the sunflower began to die, we would be in for some daily entertainment. For each day, rain or shine, a determined squirrel made his way to the flowers and feasted on this treat.
When he first showed up it was a cute little distraction as he climbed, leaped, twisted, and turned to reach all of those seeds. In fact at one point, he was even hanging upside down with his hind legs wrapped around the flower as he did pseudo sit ups to reach the seeds on the flower.
But as the days went on, his antics became a major distraction in my classroom. With each visit, my students’ eyes quickly left the attention of their studies to the side show provided by our little squirrel. On the busiest day, there were at least five squirrels feasting on the seeds. They were not all friends but some were foes as they fought for the right to eat the seeds from certain flowers. Needless to say, not much work was done that day. The opportunity led itself to studying the behavior of squirrels preparing for winter.
Yet even with all of the distractions and disruptions that this silly little squirrel caused in my classroom, I would still plant those sunflowers again. The beauty of the flowers and even the entertainment provided by the squirrel were a daily delight. We even missed him once the seeds were gone. So long dear squirrel. We shall see each other again as the seeds mature next fall.
