Stephanie Wright (4) Classroom Community

"The classroom community also extends beyond the walls of the classroom to include the entire school and the wider community. Within the school, students become buddies with students in other classes and get together to read and write in pairs."

I don't think that I've ever thought of "building" the community outside of a single classroom before. But the idea intrigues me. The whole school coming together as one, that feeling of school spirit literally all together in unity. I know I remeber in third grade when my class would get together with the classroom next door and play kickball or play games inside while the teachers went around helped individual students was a lot of fun for me, because I got to play and do things with friends or peers I usually only saw at recess. I think it is good for students to get outside of those same twenty something kids all day everday. I also know that reading buddies is a good way to have the younger grades and older grades get together to read and help and encourage each other too. A whole school community makes sense though, that students should look beyond their own little bubble. That the school is more than just Room 13. As the awareness grows, I would hope that the school environment becomes happier and together, so students feel even more accepted within ALL the walls of the school, instead of their own personal four.

I guess my question for those activities that bring classes together would be how to make it effective. From when I was a lowly first grader, it scared me to death to have to even talk to a fifth grader, let alone READ to one. So how can we make these situations more comfortable to those shy students? And how do we keep them on task? New partners means new people to talk to etc.