Oral language is an important component of literacy development, yet is often ignored in research and stifled in the classroom. The varied contexts for literate talk in a first-grade classroom were explored. Oral sharing time, writing workshop, reading workshop, whole-class reading time, and project-centers time provided opportunities for rich exchanges about things of interest to the children. The connected community that the teacher built enabled children to work toward literacy in ways that each found useful and satisfying. (Contains 18 references.) (Author/RS)