Noting that the ways children encounter and use print in the classroom can be examined as surface and organizing content of curriculum, this article provides descriptions of innovative uses of print in the kindergarten and elementary school classroom. Curriculum "surface content" includes activities, use of classroom space, display, and materials while "organizing content" includes the purposes and functions of language. The article also offers examples of how teachers can help students use language to build representations about their world such as: posting instructions on hamster care near the classroom's hamster cage; setting up an attractive reading corner where children may select stories that they want to have read to them by parent volunteers; encouraging conversation between students and visitors about labelled objects in the classroom; and other similar activities. (ARH)