Teaching To The Heart

For immediate release:
January 21, 2003
Tampa, Fla.

An acrobat learning to leap from one trapeze to the next knows that if he throws his heart over the bar first, his body will follow. Likewise, the teachers at Independent Day School-Corbett Campus (IDS-CC) believe that if you teach to a child's heart, everything else can fall into place.
That philosophy towards teaching, community service, and compassion, which is evident throughout the campus, takes on special meaning in third grade. With the help of teaching team Pennie Collins, Jeanne Rivera, and Judy Sobel, these eight and nine-year olds, whose motto is "Care, Share, Help," eagerly put their words into action through a donation to a local charity and a visit to an area nursing home.

While all students look forward to annual festivities the day before winter break, IDS third graders have adopted an additional tradition in recent years. They invite a representative from Hope Children's Home in Tampa to their class to accept a donation the children, themselves, have earned as a result of their own hard work and ingenuity - the profits from their holiday candygram business.

Begun as a hands-on way to study the basics of economics, candygrams give third graders a unique opportunity to learn how to operate a business. Several times a year, they design, test market, and manufacture greeting cards. They advertise throughout the school, take orders, and fill them, attaching a piece of candy to each card before delivering them.

The profits from the candygram business are used to offset the cost of a field trip to St. Augustine at the end of the year. However, for the past three years, the students have donated the proceeds to from their winter holiday candygram sales to Hope Children's Home.

Much to the delight of IDS students, this year, when the principal from Hope's school, Jason Roberts, visited the third grade to accept the check for $584, he brought several young people with him. The third graders quickly befriended their visitors, involving them in chess and other games during their brief stay.

Earlier in the year, the class took their "Care, Share, Help" motto on the road when they visited a Carrollwood nursing home to sing for the residents on Halloween. After performing, the students mingled with the elderly patients, sharing handshakes and smiles with a grateful audience.


"The visit to the nursing home was a powerful experience for the children," said Collins. According to Rivera, "it showed them that they have the ability to bring a smile to someone's face with just a handshake or a song."

"Academics are important," said Sobel. "We feel compassion and caring must also be taught because these are things they will always carry with them. That's why we teach to the mind, and also to the heart."

Founded in 1968, IDS, recently renamed Independent Day School-Corbett Campus, is a fully accredited, non-sectarian, independent school located in northwest Hillsborough County. It serves 500 plus students in grades Pre-K through 8. At IDS, all children experience learning in a nurturing and highly academic environment focused on excellence and developing a positive self-concept. IDS-CC has become recognized as an exemplary school with over 700 visitors observing and learning from IDS-CC teachers. For more information about IDS visit www.idsyes.com.


Contact: Pennie Collins, Jeanne Rivera, or Judy Sobel, Independent Day School
Telephone: (813) 961-3087