One segment of a year-long descriptive field study of school writing is described in this paper. In particular, the paper examines some of the uses to which writing is put in the first weeks of school in one second/third grade classroom. In doing this, the paper speculates on the writing curriculum in elementary schools and on the realization of that curriculum by means of teacher planning and the interaction of teacher and students in the course of everyday school life. The paper explains the data gathering process, which involved field notes, interviews with teachers and students, journals, and other student writings. It then highlights one particular "occasion for writing," a safety posters activity, in order to exemplify the multiple functions served by writing in the classroom and the roles played by teacher and students in undertaking them. The paper outlines the step-by-step development of the activity, including comments by the teacher and copies of the posters produced. (FL)