Choose at least one work for your class to focus on. You will want to choose a piece of children's literature that you are passionate about, as well as one that you believe your students will find inspiring. It may be helpful to choose more than one book in order to reach as many students as possible. Consider books that you read when you were a child that really spoke to you about the meaning of community.
Introduce your students to the idea of a classroom community. Explain to them that a community is a group of people who work together toward common goals. Make sure that your students understand that the classroom environment should be used by each student to help them grow and mature as a student. Inform them that friendships and support are two other important aspects of community.
Read the work or works you have chosen as a class. Ask students about how the characters in the story you read were good community members or bad community members. Reflect with your students about whether or not they would like to be a member of the community you just read about. If your students would like to be involved in that community, brainstorm ideas for how you all can make your own classroom similar to the community in your book.
Enforce rules that promote classroom community. Use examples for the book or books you read in class to help students understand why their actions are not positive for the community instead of a simple time out. Consider making awards for students who display positive community attributes with a picture of the hero of the story on the award.