This paper aims to analyze the document entitled Leitura e linguagem no ensino primário: sugestões para organização e desenvolvimento de programas. It is part of a much broader documentary research process, which aims to analyze the teaching of literacy as part of the history of education in Espirito Santo state. The document was published by the Ministry of Education and Health and by Instituto Nacional de Estudos Pedagógicos (INEP) in 1949, and it aimed to provide general guidelines for organizing the programs of primary education in the brazilian states. Considering our interest in studying the guidelines for the initial phase of schooling, we chose to analyze the guidelines for the teaching of reading and written and oral language in the first grade of elementary school. Our analysis emphasizes the concepts of language that guide the program and the theoretical and methodological bases of the teaching of reading and language in elementary schools.
reading; writing; teaching rituals; primary education