The document discusses strategies for building classroom community, including involving parents, connecting to the broader community, and promoting children's relationships. It provides examples of welcoming the community into the classroom, such as inviting community members to visit and taking field trips. It also discusses the importance of learning about diversity and gaining exposure to different people and jobs through understanding the concept of community.

1. Building a Classroom Community By Team Lonatriri Lorien Walley,Nanci Riddle, Trish Ward, Rita Brian

5. How can I better connect my classroom community to the school and neighborhood communities? Teaching about community should be more than including a token unit about “community helpers.” “… As other adults in children’s lives have less time to spend with them and as neighborhoods operate less as communities where people know and help each other, we as teachers have begun to more deliberately provide children with the experience of membership in a community- their school and classroom community- and more focused in helping them acquiring the skills for maintaining community.” (Dalton, Joan and Watson, Marilyn. Among Friends . Oakland: Developmental Studies Center, 1997.)

11. Home visits are a strategy used to develop relationships between children and their teachers. On the left is a video that Alexander wanted his teachers to see during his home visit. “Baby” he kept saying. It was at this home visit that Alexander’s teachers found out that he had been born in Russia and this was a video of Alexander when he met his parents for the first time. On the right is Ava, who put her special baby in Katrina’s lap. She got a bottle for the baby and together, Ava and Katrina fed the baby. Ava’s drop off time at school had sometimes been difficult, but after the home visit, Ava’s transition to preschool seemed seamless.

12. The first week of school we gave each family a piece of 8 ½ x 11 black posterboard to create a family collage. Family collages are another strategy we use to promote a sense of belonging. This year we left up the collages from last year for a few reasons. We wanted the children to see the collages to promote conversation. Children would often visit them and we would hear “Mama”, “Dada”, and “Dog”. Children often looked at the collages in groups, fostering relationships. We also wanted the parents to see examples of what we were asking them for, to see there is no ‘right’ way to create the collage. Together, we began putting the images on the wall. Ava and Billy helped tape them to the white board. Ava is pointing to Billy’s mom, saying “Mama”.