The aim of this paper is to analyze the multigrade teaching in a school located in Cruzeiro do Sul, rural area, in the state of Acre, where classes from first to fifth grade of elementary school are offered in the same room. Interviews, spot observations and documentary analysis were conducted in order to verify if the seating plan of the classroom, lined up by grade, affect learning and identify the difficulties of the students in multigrade teaching. We speculated about rural education, multigrade teaching and teachers' mediation to work different concepts and content from literacy to fifth year of elementary school, in historical and cultural perspective. We conclude that there is learning in multigrade models of teaching, but it produces gaps, despite teachers' strive to fulfill their role as educators and to develop knowledge in multigrade classrooms.
school multigrade; teacher educations; mediation