In this text we examine the social and semiotic conditions in which writing is present in the everyday school life of kindergarten, by analyzing the interactional and literacy events identified in a group of kindergarten students in a public school in Belo Horizonte. The events herein analyzed integrate the data bank of a research project that involved participant observation and adopted the approaches of Interactional Ethnography and childhood Sociology in examining how, when and by whom the activities involving written language were initiated and developed in the group we observed. The contraposition of different ways of analysis and representation of the interactions among the participants in literacy events demonstrated that sometimes the teacher, sometimes the students used writing as an integral part of their interactions. Additionally, it was possible to recognize aspects that contribute to the occurrence of lack of comprehension among the group participants. The engagement of the children in literacy events allows us to argue that there is an effort, both collective and individual, for them to position themselves as readers and writers in the classroom environment.
Literacy; Early childhood education; Interactional ethnography
