Project Cornerstone is a community initiative with the mission to create an environment where adults support and value all youth so they grow up feeling valued, respected, and known.
Project Cornerstone was created in Silicon Valley in 2004 to help children develop critical developmental characteristics that will help them thrive. It has grown from one school to over 170 schools in the Bay Area, and reaches over 60,000 children each month.
As part of the Project Cornerstone program, volunteers read specially selected books to a class, hold class discussions and supervise a simple activity. When delivering these lessons, volunteers are forming relationships with students. Our volunteers become caring adults at school for youth. What a wonderful responsibility!
Project Cornerstone provides written lesson plans with detailed information discussion/activities to accompany each book. The use of children’s literature aids to teach a number of concepts and life skills including resiliency, empathy, integrity, identification of feelings, building friendships, peaceful conflict resolution and much more.
For more information about volunteering with Project Cornerstone at Cumberland, please email projectcornerstone@cumberlandpta.org.
Book Club
Project Cornerstone at Cumberland also supports a supplementary program called the Project Cornerstone Book Club, which is for 4th and 5th grade classes only. A parent volunteer meets once a month with a small group of 5-8 kids to discuss a chapter book. Each chapter book has a corresponding Project Cornerstone picture book with which it shares common themes and lessons, but is targeted for older children who are interested in more challenging reading.
For more information about volunteering with the Project Cornerstone Book Club at Cumberland, please email bookclub@cumberlandpta.org.