Project Cornerstone

 Welcome to the 2026-27 School Year

We are excited to begin our fourteenth year of Project Cornerstone at Bubb. This year's theme is Connect with Empathy

What is Project Cornerstone?

Project Cornerstone is a community initiative of the YMCA of Silicon Valley that works with more than 400 schools and community partners to change the personal behavior of adults, strengthen programs that serve youth, and impact public policy.

Asset Building Champions (ABC) is Project Cornerstone’s literature-based program addressing important issues like respect, tolerance, honesty, peaceful conflict resolution, taking a stand against bullying behaviors, and refusing to participate in gossip. Volunteers are trained in the developmental assets model for positive youth development, and prepared to read a specially selected children’s book and lead related activities and discussions that help teach valuable lessons related to these issues each month.

Project Cornerstone ABC Goals:

• Create a common language and vocabulary to use when discussing student respect and behavior expectations.

• Help students develop the social-emotional skills needed to build strong friendships, deal with bullying, solve problems, be UPstanders, work through their emotions, include others, show empathy, have a growth mindset, develop a sense of self-efficacy and believe in themselves.   

• 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 in order to achieve and thrive.

The Project Cornerstone ABC program reaches over 58,000 students, including several schools in our own district.

Project Cornerstone ABC Program at Bubb

We became a “Cornerstone” school in 2012.  Thanks to all of our parent volunteers, our students have learned valuable life-skills that they can use in the classroom, on the playground, and at home. Creating a common language and a “tool belt” of strategies for identifying, naming and resolving issues has empowered students to resolve more of their own issues and has made it easier for teachers to address issues when they do come up.

The feedback from parents, staff and teachers at Bubb has been very positive and we continue to improve the program based on suggestions from parents and staff. Here are some of the comments from staff, students, and volunteer readers:

"We all are using a common language and can work on dealing with teasing and problems in the same way."

"The books were fun and the activities really helped hammer the lesson home."

"It is nice to have parents involved and reading in the classroom. The kids love that."

Learn The Project Cornerstone Lingo

Have you been stumped when your kids say, “he dipped into my bucket”?  Or, “don’t take the hook”? These expressions are straight from the ABC stories.

We encourage all of our Bubb parents to learn more about the program, the lessons, and the lingo by:

• Reviewing the Project Cornerstone letter/email that is sent home after each lesson

• Asking your kids!!

• Reading our FAQ.

These lessons are packed full of tools that parents can use at home too.

Three Years of Books

The Project Cornerstone ABC program is a cumulative curriculum spanning 3 years, with 7-8 books per year. Multiple copies of all the books are now available in the library thanks to funding from the PTA. For a list of this year’s books, please see our Cornerstone Books page.

A summary of each lesson will be shared monthly by readers in each classroom.

For more information, contact Bubb’s co-leads:

Margaret B and John A at pcbubb@gmail.com.

Reader’s Corner (for 2026-27 Bubb Project Cornerstone Readers)