The purpose of this article is to build an argument for understanding the patterns of life in the classroom as a process of community construction. We argue that a form of community is constructed in all classrooms though the actions and interactions, norms and expectations, and roles and relationships that are negotiated and established by members over time. The types of communities that are constructed constrain or support the development of repertoires of possible actions that students might take, how students might display knowledge, and how they might view themselves as learners. In the bilingual sixth grade which formed the basis for the study described in this paper this concerted activity led to the construction of one community with two languages, a community in which students could and did learn to "student" in new ways, ways often seen as reserved for other groups of students.