Project Cornerstone
What is Project Cornerstone? At Saratoga Elementary School, we are Asset Builders!
Project Cornerstone was founded in 1999 after a survey showed that most youth in Santa Clara County are missing the positive relationships, opportunities, values, and skills— known collectively as “developmental assets”—that provide the foundation for a healthy, successful future. In general, the more developmental assets that young people possess, the more likely they are to avoid risky behaviors and engage in positive, healthy activities. At Saratoga Elementary School, we are Asset Builders -- which means we are constantly looking for ways to provide meaningful learning experiences for our students where they feel safe, have a sense of community and belonging, and have a rich network of trusted adult role models with whom they can interact and rely on. For more information about Project Cornerstone: http://www.projectcornerstone.org/html/missionhistory.html
The Asset Building Champions Program
ABC is Project Cornerstone’s effective parent engagement program. It is composed of a preschool and elementary school strand, with more than 2,900 adults reading to 38,000+ kids in 127 schools. Volunteers have training in the developmental assets model for positive youth development. They are prepared to read a specially selected children’s book and lead related activities and discussions in classrooms each month.
The program’s goal is to help school communities achieve the following:
- Create a common language and vocabulary about student respect and behavior expectations among all members of the school community — students, parents and caregivers, teachers and staff.
- Help students develop skills to handle physical, verbal, relational and digital bullying and to STAND UP when they see bullying.
- Increase the number of caring adults on campus so that all students feel that there is at least one adult they can turn to if they have a problem.
- Contribute to a positive school climate where every student feels valued and supported to achieve and thrive.
To learn more please visit the Project Cornerstone national website.
Book Reviews
Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The story uses a bucket to symbolize our need to be filled everyday with positive experiences. The power of affirming words i captured by the simple concept of Bucket Filling. By expressing and doing acts of kindness and appreciation, we create "warm fuzzies" that fill our bucket and the buckets of others. Students and adults will learn to use the strong visual imagery of bucket filling as a tool and use bucket filling language to build friendship skills and campus-wide respect.
Simon's Hook The focus of Simon's Hook is to help students recognize the choices they have in responding to teasing. It empowers them to avoid perceiving themselves as a powerless victim of hurtful behaviors like name calling. Children can get so involved with their own emotional reaction to a tease that they react impulsively, rewarding the teaser with entertaining reactions that accentuates their feelings of loss of control and power. This book introduces five specific skills to use in response to teasing. These five responses allow youth to choose from a variety of techniques to help them stay in control. Simon's Hook compares teases to fishing hooks and promotes the idea of swimming free of those hooks by choosing a response that will keep youth feeling free from the teases.