Every classroom, like every community, has its own distinct culture, values, and rules. Children belong to many different communities. By building a community in the classroom, teachers create a common and predictable cultural experience that helps children feel connected to others.

A community is a place where individuals share common values, goals, and activities. It is a place where each member takes on roles to provide sufficient services so that the community's goals are reached. In communities, everyone does not do the same thing at the same time, but groups work together to achieve common goals. A community is a place where social bonds are established and individuals can flourish (Bredekamp and Rosegrant 1992, 81).

Because a community is built around the shared interests, values, and goals of its members, the culture of your classroom community changes each year as children change and as you change. One year, you have a group that loves singing, and you make singing an important part of classroom life. Another year, the children become concerned about the welfare of a homeless person who has set up a tent on the street near the school, and the issue of homelessness becomes the focus of a long-term study. You can't tell from one year to the next what dominant interests or events will emerge and how they will define your classroom community and the content for studies.

Creating a classroom community is the second strategy for building the primary classroom. This chapter explains how creating a sense of community in the classroom enables teachers to address children's social, emotional, and cognitive development. It describes how teachers build community by making meetings a central part of classroom life, helping children relate positively to others, and teaching children to solve social problems peacefully.