This thesis is in the field of studies of Didactics, addressing, in particular, issues such as the relationship between school culture and social cultural of students reference and the practices of reading in school. Assuming that there are school-enhancing learning cultures reflected in certain forms of organization and arrangement of spaces didactic and pedagogical conceptions of reading and teaching practices guided by the social culture of reference for students, there was a case study in a municipal school in Rio de Janeiro, located in the north of the city. The school participated in the Estudo da Geração Escolar 2005 – GERES project - and was chosen for being one of the schools whose students, after four years of implementation of the Reading test, had higher average performance when compared to students from other schools of similar social composition in the municipal system. The interest was to investigate aspects of the relationship between school culture and social cultures of reference for students, from the analysis of aspects related to the didactic and pedagogical spaces, pedagogical practices and representations of the teachers of that school. For this purpose, we used photographs of school spaces for the practice of reading such as reading room, classrooms, murals and reading corners; field diary containing observations of classes of classes of the fifth year of elementary school and activities in the reading room, and interviews with three teachers, two coordinators and the director. The concept of school cultures with which we operate is based on the ideas of Pérez Gómez (2001) associated with António Nóvoa (1992). To analyze the data were useful categories outlined by Teixeira (2008) and Nóvoa (1992), which were implemented to account for the purposes of this thesis. It could be observed from the data, the school s effort to dialogue with the universe of students, employing elements of everyday life as a starting point or guideline for the development of activities and seeking the partnership of the community on different projects. It was evident, however, the existence of certain tension when worked in culture. Thus, although the school considers the universe of students to develop their actions, this is an aspect that requires further clarification and a collective reflection of educators in order to be systematically worked and integrated into the school routine.