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The overall aim of this research has been to study how schools create possibilities for children to learn. Possibilities to communicate and to interact are seen as closely linked to a process of learn-ing in line with contemporary thinking of learning (Kress, 2003; Säljö, 2000; Selander, 2005). The theoretical starting point has been to consider use of modes in communication a means for participating in social activities in school activities (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001; Kress, 2003; Kress & Jewitt, 2003). Participation is a central notion in the study of multimodality, where focus is at children communication through the use of modes.

The empirical material consists of ethnographic video recordings made in three Swedish ur-ban school settings from 2000 through 2003. The children were five, six and seven year olds during the study. Detailed transcripts and analysis of the use of the three modes speech, gesture and gaze were made of fifteen activities.

The analyses focus on how the use of modes can be seen as means for taking different posi-tions of participation in activities. The fifteen sequences are presented in five different themes. The themes include; silence at school, the place of the body at school, how the physical object ‘rubber’ is a sign of competence of ‘right and wrong’, how negotiation appears in school settings as a way of doing gender, and finally, an analysis of how a changed social function of a content transforms positions of participation. The themes generally discuss how school ideologies are shown in communication.

By showing how children use modes in different situations and for different social reasons to participate in school activities, the analyses also show how a social setting and physical objects contribute to what positions are chosen, and when. The variations of the use of modes in the different school settings can be seen as signs of a changed principal for categorization, and thereby, how is further more argued, how that connects to children’s learning.