Here are two very early poems. The first one was made up for my children when they were tiny – three of them under five! Each time it snowed, we chanted it together. Years later I wrote it down and put it in a book. The second is ice-skating the way I experienced it, before indoor rinks and global warming.
SNOW
Snow
Snow
Lots of snow
Everywhere we look and everywhere we go
Snow on the sandbox
Snow on the slide
Snow on the bicycle
Left outside
Snow on the steps
And snow on my feet
Snow on the sidewalk
Snow on the sidewalk
Snow on the sidewalk
Down the street.
From: HELLO AND GOOD-BY, illustrated by Norman Hoberman (Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1959). Also in THE LLAMA WHO HAD NO PAJAMA, illustrated by Betty Fraser (Browndeer Press, Harcourt, 1998)
I love this poem! I used it when I taught first grade children; I had a great lesson plan for the third day to read it, but a very talented six-year-old asked on the first day, “Why does it repeat?” I was flabbergasted, but acknowledged his insight and went on with the lessons — day one AND three! I was fortunate enough to teach this boy again in third and fourth grades, and recommended him for the gifted program, and I continued to read this poem with my children.