The aim of this study is to develop teaching practices that promote students’ critical literacy in the first year of primaryschool. The following research questions are addressed: 1) How can instruction that promotes students’ critical literacybe designed, planned, and conducted? 2) What possibilities for developing writing skills does instruction promoting acritical literacy perspective offer? The study was conducted as part of an eight-month-long combined research andprofessional developmental project in a Swedish primary school. The Interdependent Framework for Critical LiteracyEducation (Janks, 2013) was used for planning, implementing, and evaluating the project. Methods for data collectionincluded audio recordings of planning sessions with teachers, observations and video recordings of lessons, andsamples of student work. The tools of critical content analysis (Krippendorff, 2004) was used to examine the material.Findings from initial analyses indicate that teacher-led discussions, with questions based on the framework, enhancedthe students’ ability to reflect over and deepen their understanding of language use in relation to issues about power.The students also developed awareness of their own writing, particularly in terms of vocabulary selection. Criticalliteracy explores interactions of language and power, and addresses social issues about power, equity and justice(Comber, 2015). In education, critical literacy is a textual practice that encourages students to explore how texts aresocially constructed and position the writer and reader in specific ways (Janks, 2013). Research on the teaching andlearning of critical literacy in the early school years is, however, scarce, and there is a need to further explore how tobest support young children’s development of critical literacy (Larson & Marsh, 2015).