When opportunities like this comes knocking… answer the door! Teachers are encouraged to enter lessons for grades K-8 that highlight innovative investigations and exciting experiments on the subject of chemistry for an opportunity to win cash awards from the Chemical Educational Foundation (CEF).

The Foundation will award $1,000 as first prize, $500 for 2nd place entries, and $250 for 3rd place entries in the three categories of Scientific Inquiry, Structure of Matter, and Safety and Recycling. The six winning lesson plan entries and their authors will be published on the CEF Web site, www.chemed.org.

This year CEF is adding an extra prize for those who submit early! The first 50 entrants to the competition will receive a complimentary You Be The Chemist kit. The YBTC kit for grades K-8 features detailed lesson plans, vocabulary, assessments, activity sheets, homework opportunities, and experiment materials that consist of non-toxic household items. A tool that strives to be both educational and fun, You Be The Chemist provides chemistry concepts with real-world references.

For complete details, rules, regulations, guidelines and submission categories, visit www.chemed.org. Contest deadline is October 21, 2005.Â