Time:         twenty minute

Lead-in:   Explain to the students that you will be asking a few questions as you walk to the trail. (These questions help students "tune in” to winter and set the tone for upcoming activities.) Explain that winter is mostly a quite time for nature, so in order to "tune in” to nature they need to be quite as they walk through the woods.

Procedures:       Written below is a series of questions and statement you may ask the students to respond to during the like to the trail.

•     Look around. What are some things they see or feel today that they cannot see or feel during the summer?
•     Look around. Is winter everywhere around them? What are some clues? (snow, cold wind, leaves off trees, creek is frozen)
•     What colors can be seen in winter? (red berries, green evergreens, yellow grasses, white snow, gray birds, blue sky)
•     Stop! Ask them to close their eyes and listen to the sounds of winter. What do they hear? (wind, birds calling, leaves rusting, creek flowing)

Wrap-up:          Now create a circle with the group and invite each student to share what winter means to him or her. Explain to the group that winter means many different things to different people. It is also true that feelings and understanding through the long winters (Novosibirsk) feel different about winter than people who live in the shorter winters of Snt Petersburg.

                   Now explain that just as people adapt to the winter around them, nature also adapts to the winter season. They are going to examine how trees, a part of nature, adapt to the winter seasons.