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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. |
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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