Taking Time to Appreciate in LEU

This is the time of year when we think about things in our lives that we are grateful for. Showing someone gratitude is one of the simplest ways to convey to someone that they are valued. Studies show that receiving gratitude has tremendous positive effects on mental and physical health. Positive Psychology asserts that gratitude is a deeper appreciation for someone (or something) that produces longer-lasting positivity!

In addition to showing gratitude to others, taking stock of the good things in our own lives and taking time to appreciate what we have contributes to our own well-being. This school of thought goes a step further and posits that there are benefits of finding the good in things that didn’t exactly go your way.  

We have been fostering this attitude in the LEU classroom for the past few weeks. A pompom is added to our ‘Kindness Jar’ in the classroom every time the children use random acts of kindness throughout the school day, show gratitude, and give genuine and specific compliments to others as well as help and support their fellow students. We have nearly filled this to the top, thanks to all the kindness being shown in the class.  

This month we had something extra special to be grateful for. One of the Grade 3 student’s remarkable artistic talents was showcased to the community. Shrubbhavi Choudhary entered an art competition and her beautiful piece of art was the winning submission. Her prize was attending the ‘Pirate’s Week Annual Turtle Release’ on Governor’s Beach and naming one of the turtles. Shrubbhavi and the Grade 3s represented Montessori By The Sea at the release and all of the group were very excited and grateful to take part in the event. You will find photos of ‘Lily’ the turtle being set free below. We are grateful to Shrubbhavi to witness her extraordinary talents and thankful that we were involved in such as special experience. It also enabled us to remember how appreciative we are to live on this beautiful island that allows us to experience such an exciting and notable event.  

While at the turtle release, a representative of the Turtle Centre shared some very interesting turtle facts with us that strengthened our appreciation for this wonderous creature.  

• Green turtles are one of the world’s largest species of turtle and are a “keystone species” which means they are an important part of the environment and influence marine diversity. If they are removed from a habitat the natural order of things in greatly disrupted. 
• 90 percent of wild Green turtles in Cayman are related to Cayman Turtle Centre’s inhabitants. This demonstrates the success of the reintroduction program. 
• Sea turtles’ memories are “imprinted” with a magnetic map of the sandy beach where they hatch. This gives them the unique ability to return to that same site decades later to repeat their ancient nesting ritual. 
• Endangered sea turtles face high mortality rates due to threats in our oceans, including fisheries bycatch, ship strikes, pollution, climate change, and other detrimental human activities. 
• Turtles released in Cayman are fitted with micro tags, about the size of a grain of rice, that monitor their movements for months.  
• Turtles are released when they are between one and two years old, an age when they have a better chance of survival to adulthood in the wild as their shell has hardened.  
• Green turtles are the only herbivorous species of sea turtle.