There are many ideas for class activities in a first grade whole language classroom that can make the class a richer environment without requiring a lot of time or preparation. "Whole language" is not a set of practices to teach reading; it is a set of beliefs, a philosophy about learning which derives from the notion of keeping learning whole and intact rather than fragmenting it into discrete bites. Activities include: (1) having students make up the rules for the class which are collected and sent home to parents; (2) having students write down one thing remembered from the previous day's lesson (but not grading or collecting it); (3) using pasted-together sheets of paper for students to write a continuing story which is shared with other students; (4) having one student each day write a sentence about something interesting to them which is put onto a "class calendar" and also serves as the class handwriting assignment; (5) tape recording trade books and student-written stories; (6) having students bring in newspaper clippings of global events and posting them on a map of the world; (7) evaluating each student's reading individually by listening to them read; and (8) transferring one student's story onto an overhead and having the class edit it. (RS)