This paper reports findings from a naturalistic study of children's peer interactions in a kindergarten classroom. As the participant observation field-work of the study progressed, it became clear that much of children's interaction in their kindergarten classroom was covert in nature. That is, it took place in classroom contexts defined as situations in which peer conversations were either forbidden or discouraged. The focus of the study was then directed toward the character of such situations and children's covert interactions within them. The findings describe contexts in which children's talking was officially limited and identify patterns of interaction children used in reaction to classroom limitations. Students' response patterns were classified into three domains: (1) forgetting expectations, (2) secret communications, and (3) exploring the limits. Each category of response is discussed as an example of children making secondary adjustments to institutional role expectations of the school. (RH)