Continue with Microsoft TeamsSaving Food for Winter
Vocabulary
Read the vocabulary terms to understand the reading better.
Acorn
An acorn is the nut of an oak tree.
Beak
A beak is the nose and mouth of a bird.
Peck
To peck means to quickly strike or pick up with a beak.
Some animals eat the nuts that grow on trees. Nuts do not grow on trees during the winter. How can animals eat nuts in the winter? They can gather nuts during the fall and save them for when winter comes.
Grey Squirrels
Acorns and walnuts are two kinds of nuts grey squirrels eat. When they find a nut, they use their front paws to dig a hole in the ground. Then, they put the nut in the hole and cover it with dirt. Squirrels hide the nuts so other animals don’t eat them. In the fall, squirrels bury lots of nuts in many different places. They will need lots of nuts to eat during the winter.
When winter comes, grey squirrels dig up and eat the nuts they hid. Sometimes a squirrel forgets where some of the nuts are buried. Nuts are seeds, so the nuts that squirrels don’t eat can grow into trees.
Acorn Woodpeckers
Acorns are nuts that grow on oak trees. Acorn woodpeckers got their name because they love to eat acorns. They gather lots of acorns in the fall and save them for winter. Acorn woodpeckers use their sharp beaks to peck lots of holes in tree trunks. Each hole is big enough to hold one acorn.
The woodpeckers put an acorn in each hole. When winter comes, they eat these acorns. Other animals can see the acorns in the holes. Acorn woodpeckers guard the trees where they have put their acorns. They make sure animals such as squirrels do not steal their winter food.
To learn more about animals saving food for winter, watch the video by SciShow Kids on YouTube.
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