The most commonly used Finnish mathematics teacher guides (Grades 1-6) are investigated so as to determine what kind of resource they constitute for teachers in planning and enacting mathematics teaching and what kind of mathematics classroom they promote. The structure and the main contents of the guides were found to be quite homogeneous. The nature of communication was mostly descriptive, but the separate activities suggested for each lesson were quite explicitly described. Suggested activities, such as mental calculation tasks and homework assignment, were typically motivated by non-specific rationales, and many activities seemed to be taken for granted in the Finnish mathematics classroom culture. The results add both to knowledge about how to analyse teacher guides and to knowledge about Finnish educational features.