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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}538281_4495628996593_1782698717_n.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 188px; float: right; " />Upon asking my students to identify what kind of trees keep their leaves during the winter, one student enthusiastically exclaimed, &quot;A live one!&quot; It wasn&#39;t quite the answer I was looking for, considering most live trees are without leaves in the winter, but it reminded me of the common misconception that our forests are filled with dead trees and silence during the dormant winter months.</p>
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	Contrary to these misconceptions, I have discovered that our wintry world is full of life! Clearly the leaves have been shed and growth is limited in this frigid season, yet winter allows us to enjoy the utter simplicity of life that remains.</p>
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	To the uninformed eye, a blanket of clouds, rising barometric pressure, tracks in the snow, a vial of lake-water, and holes in a dead tree may be meaningless and dull, but to me (and hopefully to a bunch of rowdy Michigan kids), it means that we likely have fresh snow and some warm(er) weather, causing lots of critters to emerge and leave their intersecting paths behind (which we can investigate). The rising pressure indicates the coming of lovely sunshine and puffy cumulus clouds, the vial full of micro invertebrates will fascinate students within minutes and hold their attention for hours, and I am excited to explain the adaptations allowing woodpeckers locate and devour their prey. Remember, you don&#39;t need to be a naturalist to see and explore In his poem Quatrains, Rumi reminds us, &quot;The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you...&quot;</p>
