Beecher Elementary School
New Haven, CT

The Beecher Elementary population was moved in September 2004 to a transitional building because our school was being rebuilt. The transitional building was drab with chipping paint and had been left in total disarray.

Since Beecher School is such a tight-knit community, we immediately set out to make the place our own. Throughout the summer, teachers began focusing on their classrooms in order to provide their students with an environment that would be supportive of literacy instruction. Teachers began to realize the importance of a whole school environment change, which led to teachers coming together to plan collaboratively for change!

Throughout that school year, teachers worked diligently on the school environment. After attending the Cornerstone training in the summer of 2005, the principal and coaches had a much better understanding of what a model classroom should look like and its purposes for learning. The entire learning community came together to make certain all classrooms were equipped with rugs, lamps, pillow and all the necessary tools to encourage the best learning for the students. By doing this, parents became involved and now "reading nooks" are emerging in the homes of students.

The pictures below reflect how Beecher's school environment has embraced and incorporated the Cornerstone vocabulary and literacy comprehension strategies as exhibited in displays of student work throughout the school. Beecher also boasts a "literacy lounge." Throughout the classrooms, the meta-cognition strategies are posted and integrated daily into lessons. We had the idea to post all the strategies in the hallway in order to serve as a constant reminder to students, parents and community members that we are a Cornerstone school. The literacy lounge provides a warm, inviting reading "retreat" for parents, students and staff members. We also invented creative ways to display our Cornerstone vocabulary throughout the building (with a robot, a train, a bus).

We are excited to have the opportunity to showcase the talent and hard work the Beecher Community has put forth!