Sleeping Trees
When winter arrives, deciduous trees look very different from how they looked in summer. Their branches are bare — no leaves at all! The tree might look dead, but it is actually just sleeping. Scientists call this dormancy.
During dormancy, the tree slows way down. It is not growing, not making food, and not using much energy. It is living off the sugar it stored in its roots and trunk during fall. Think of it like a bear hibernating in a cave — the tree is resting and saving energy until spring comes again.
If you look closely at a bare winter tree, you can see its shape much better than in summer when leaves hide the branches. You can see the thick trunk, the main branches spreading out, and the smaller twigs at the tips. Some trees even look beautiful covered in snow or sparkling with frost!
**Look Around You:** In winter, look at a bare tree and try to count how many big branches grow from the trunk. You can see the tree's skeleton!