Cornerstones Community Partnerships
Creating hands-on interdisciplinary adobe restoration curriculum for New Mexico schools
Since 1986, Cornerstones has worked in partnership with communities to restore historic structures, preserve cultural landscapes, encourage traditional building practices, and conserve natural resources. Our Adobe Curriculum Experiential learning promotes cultural awareness and historic preservation by introducing the skills needed to restore, rehabilitate and preserve the adobe structures characteristic of the state's architecture.
Our curriculums can be applied to Pre-k - first grade, elementary and middle school and are designed to meet New Mexico Education Department's New Mexico Content Standards with Benchmarks and Performance Standards. The new Middle School Curriculum is supported by a grant from the Santa Fe Community Foundation. The curriculum was tested out by teachers during an adobe workshop and Professional Development session at The Academy for Technology and the Classics (ATC) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The curriculum, written by Joaquin Martinez, is digitally available through the Cornerstones website.
The author of the lesson plans met with the ATC teachers several times through the year as the students built the adobe pueblo and the week's Professional Development was a culmination of what the teachers already participated in with the students during the 2023-2024 school year, as the lesson plans were being put into best practice.
One of the curriculum's success was the ability to share the plans' application to other disciplines. Pictured, you will see the Spanish, Math, Science and Art teachers at ATC. The lesson plans are designed in such a way that all of these teachers will be applying them to their respective disciplines in the coming year to create a truly interdisciplinary yearlong Project Based Learning experience for the students at ATC.
Cornerstones appreciates the opportunity to continue our Adobe curriculum project and looks forward to establishing a high school format which may include internships and trades training, collaborating with shop classes and career planning within schools.
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The Santa Fe Community Foundation invited its nonprofit grantees to submit stories related to our July topic of Arts & Culture.
The Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
By making high-quality music education accessible to more than 2,000 young people each year, the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus is helping students build confidence, creativity, and community. Through lessons, ensembles, and school partnerships, the organization is inspiring the next generation of musicians across northern New Mexico.
El Rancho de Las Golondrinas
Through hands-on learning at New Mexico Heritage Days, El Rancho de Las Golondrinas helps thousands of students experience the state's history firsthand, creating meaningful connections across generations.
Chimayo Cultural Preservation Association
Each year, the Chimayo Cultural Preservation Association's San Isidro Day celebration brings neighbors of all ages together to honor Chimayó's acequia traditions through blessing the water, planting the community garden, and passing cultural knowledge from one generation to the next.
