Welcome back! By the time you read this, we've made it past the initial start of the school year chaos. Not enough supplies, not nearly adequate time to prepare the way we'd like to for each day, too many students (or too few in some districts) and WHY is it so hard to get them excited about science?! That's what I love about the start of the school year; the mixture of anticipation, adrenaline and knowing that we are all starting fresh with this group of young minds. It's an opportunity to learn and grow from last year's mistakes and become better educators!
     The NCLB report card is out now, and like most of you I am teaching in a school that is officially "In Need of Improvement". Keeping my political opinions to myself, my response is as an educator to continue to better my instructional techniques and as a voting citizen keep our representatives in Congress informed of the consequences of NCLB and ways to improve it. Enough said on this issue…..
     This summer I took several post-graduate classes and I represented South Dakota at the National Congress on Science Education in Bozeman, MT. At the Congress, a Resolution presented by

the SDSTA in support of the National Underground Lab Project in Lead, SD was passed and sent on to the National Science Foundation. In conjunction with the Wyoming Science Teachers Association, the SDSTA also presented a proposal to hold a regional NSTA Conference in Rapid City for the fall of 2008. Stay tuned for further details!
     We've finally received a little drought breaking rain in Western SD and too much rain in the east. If you'd like to learn how California is dealing with problems of water quality, try
www.safedrinkingwater.com (a very informative website; it even has a story about Henry, SD in the August 14th issue!).
     In this issue you should also receive a form to be a presenter at the 13th Annual SDCTM/SDSTA Professional Development Conference in February. Please give this some serious thought. Every one of us has some trick of the trade that would benefit our peers if it was shared. If you have attended the Conference in the past I encourage you to bring a fellow educator with you that has never gone. Perhaps someone is just waiting to be invited!? The more educators from ALL levels K-College