This article presents the results of a survey on discursive genres used at home and in school for the purpose of reading, through interviews with Primary School level pupils. These partial results come from a wider ranging survey developed throughout 2005, in the city of Joinville-SC, which also involved the parents and teachers, in addition to Child Education. This work aims to contribute to the growing discussions about discursive genres and their use in the teaching of the Portuguese Language, especially in this case, i.e. the literacy process. It involves a diagnosis for verifying what writing materials the children from initial grades actually have access to, both at home and at school. From this point onwards, it is possible to provide activities that seek to increase knowledge from socially orientated reading practices, with the ultimate objective, therefore, of learning to read and write. The principal authors giving theoretical sustenance to this idea are: Bakhtin (2000, [1952, 1953]), Marcuschi (2000) and Schneuwly and Dolz (1999).