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Cayman
Classroom Plan |
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UPDATE: Check
out the Cayman Classroom Bakesale here
  
Click
to see the entire book
Monday:
Ashland, Wisconsin
Melissa
Martinez announced to her 3rd grade class that she would
visit Grand Cayman Island. Incorporating a map skill class,
Melissa showed her students the location of Grand Cayman
Island. Then she showed them various highlight destinations
on the island such as Sunset House where she would stay
and The Turtle Farm, where she would learn more about turtles
living around the Caribbean Sea.
Tuesday:
Ashland, Wisconsin
In
preparation for her fact finding mission, Melissa began
teaching her sixteen students about the coral reef ecosystem
that surrounds Grand Cayman.
Students were absolutely engaged and asked many questions and created
this wonderful
book.
 Melissa
Martinez started her long journey to Cayman.
She
spent 11 hours in the Miami airport. Judy Bennett and
Jay Ireland were the onsite boat cleaning detail. We
were going to use the 28 foot Extractor and
it needed to be prepared for our team’s arrival.
Melissa catches 40
winks at the airport.
Thursday: Official Arrival at Sunset House
 All
team members assembled at Sunset
House, which was kind enough to donate rooms
and support for our project.
Melissa Martinez, Ana Martin, Judy Bennett and Jay Ireland organized
and departed for the first dive. Melissa Martinez is SCUBA certified,
but had not dove for a while. She needed a refresher course… Safety
First!
Melissa, practiced her SCUBA and buoyancy skills far from the reef.
When she was comfortable, the team took off to explore the Cayman coral
wall.
That
evening, Georgienne Bradley, Imaging Foundation
director joined the team and moderated the discussion
on the agenda for the following few days.
Our task was clear: develop an exciting lesson plan for the January
expedition!
Friday:
Late start
Team
members were recovering from the travel and perhaps
a late night catching up with friends….
We cast off the Sunset House Pier at about 10 AM. We were bound for
the “Armchair” dive site.
Dropped down on the Sandy shoots, protruding walls. Melissa used
her new Pelican light to check out the vibrant colors that are otherwise
invisible at depth.
Returned after one dive.
Prepared for a meeting with Ken Hydes, the manager of the turtle
farm. Hurricane Ivan devastated the old turtle farm last year, however
construction on a new facility is well underway. The principle focus
is marine education! Ken’s 10 year old daughter was our guide.
She was delightful and informed and we decided she would be a perfect
Cayman ambassador to our Wisconsin classroom.
The new property includes a turtle hatchery, aquariums, a massive
predator tank and many educational tools. We certainly hope to partner
in many future projects with this energetic group.
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Saturday
Cast
off the Sunset House Pier in search of Orange Canyon
dive site. After an hour run along the coast, our GPS
told us we had found the spot. One back roll later
and we were on our way down the wall.
This was Melissa’s first chance to venture down the wall. We
did a deep dive and saw two spotted eagle rays. We will definitely
visit and video this spot during our January expedition!
We used our surface interval to throw around a few creative ideas.
Melissa thought it might be a good idea for her class to draw pictures
of what they think the underwater world is now and then after our
January class.
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For
our second dive we went to shallow Devil’s Grotto.
We wove in and out of the labyrinth of caverns. We
were welcomed by yellow tailed snappers and sergeant
majors. We saw an eel and many invertebrates. This
is also a “Must visit” site for our January
class.
We returned to the hotel and held an evening meeting. We discussed the
logistics of the trip. We needed to pull from the list of Wisconsin third
grade standards to decide what educational topics to tackle. Knowing
that nature is unpredictable we listed a few extra ideas. We will be
sure to return to Stingray City with its founders Jay Ireland and Pat
Kenny. Stingray City is the perfect place to observe Stingrays and show
our class the anatomical features which make these fish close cousins
to sharks.
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Sunday
 We
planned a morning dive and then sadly realized we could
not finish all requisite planning AND execute the dive!
Our dedication to the project required that we hang up
our gear and complete our planning. We visited Pat and
Georgia Kenny to investigate possible on-island funding
resources for this project.
Our team returned to the Sunset House where we held our final meeting.
First we discussed general Imaging Foundation issues. We allocated follow-up
duties to each team member and discussed details to ensure a fun filled
educational experience in January. We then relaxed and enjoyed the team’s
final night on the island.
Monday
Team
disbands and returns home.
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