Much like the cycles and rhythms of the seasons, implementation of the national geography standards in Colorado has, over the course of a decade, grown, developed, and changed. As with the exciting beginning of spring, our time of planting was set in motion in 1993 by the passage of Colorado House Bill 1313, which set a deadline for school districts to establish standards of what students should know and be able to do in major subject areas, including geography. Working almost simultaneously with the publication of Geography for Life: National Geography Standards 1994 (GESP 1994), Colorado drew heavily on the ideas, concepts, and strategies reflected in that national standards document. Geography for Life was published in 1994, and Colorado's State Board of Education approved the state's geography standards in 1995. Geographic education in Colorado had not previously overemphasized the original five themes of geography that were published in 1984 (JCGE 1984), and consequently, Colorado teachers easily embraced the new standards that were organized into Six Essential Elements.