This study deals with gender and children's cultures, crossing the initial series clubinhos, analyzed in a research done at school in the Borough of Pinheiros in São Paulo in 2001 with the trocinhas of Bom Retiro studied by Florestan Fernandes in 1942. In the search for microstructural aspects and for the effect of these interactions in the construction of different meanings of gender, questions emerged such as: to what extent do these groups manage to establish spaces of autonomy before the adult world?; what were the central points upon which the interplay of gender relations developed at each time and place? Based on ethnography, 28 field records of breaktime activities of children from the 1st to the 4th series were made. For the 3rd and 4th series only, 40 classes of 50 min each were attended (artistic education and physical education), and 29 boys and 26 girls were interviewed. At times excluding, at times aggregating, the clubinhos (either mixed or single gender) were observed to be the way children used to manage their relations, either to allow mixed groups without conflict, or to keep the distance between the sexes in a peaceful manner. This study contributes to raise the topic of children's cultures in their main role associated to gender, and allows characterizing school as a contradictory space that can develop actions to support children in the expansion of their experiences.
Children's cultures; Gender relations; Fundamental education; Initial series