POPULAR GAMES AND TEXT GENRES IN THE LITERACY PROCESS: PEDAGOGICAL POSSIBILITIES FOR DEVELOPING READING AND WRITING SKILLS
The literacy process faces the constant challenge of fostering fluid reading and writing skills while overcoming the misconception that play is incompatible with formal learning. In this context, reclaiming oral tradition genres through play stimulates reflection on the writing system and strengthens children's autonomy within the school environment. Accordingly, this research aims to investigate the role of play in schools, revive textual genres from popular culture, and link them to practices that support literacy development. From a methodological perspective, the study analyzed a teaching sequence grounded in theoretical frameworks and developed by a teacher for a first-grade class at a municipal school in São Luís (Maranhão). The practice involved the playful yet structured exploration of nursery rhymes, quatrains, and tongue twisters. The results demonstrate that circle games, recitations, finger-point reading, and letter-manipulation activities significantly increased the children's participation and interest. These dynamics fostered rhyme awareness, vocabulary expansion, reasoning skills, and an understanding of written language structures. The study concludes that play—when driven by pedagogical intent and appropriate mediation—dispels the notion that playful activities lack relevance in schools, establishing itself as a powerful, enjoyable, and effective tool for developing reading and writing skills.