Materials were gathered in a first and second grade informal, family-grouped classroom over 45 days of two school years to provide an interpretive framework for looking at writing in context. Participant observation was used in order to see the classroom community from a member's perspective while at the same time making explicit those features usually taken for granted. Notes, photographs, audiotaped segments of classroom life, interviews of the teacher and of children, photocopied children's writing, and weekly newsletters to parents were analyzed, revealing a number of facts about the relationship between writing and the classroom environment. Observations suggested that children cared about doing things with friends and that the teacher fostered this interest by linking people, ideas, and things in classroom assignments. This practice indicated that children and their teacher were engaged in creating their own culture. By shaping contexts, the teacher encouraged students to experiment with varied written language uses and supported the gradual development of new modes of writing by embedding them in otherwise familiar events. What the class did together in exploring their world through literature and through direct experience gave support and significance to their early ventures in writing. (HOD)