NEWS FROM PRIMARY
Reading is Thinking

Effective readers think critically. As effective readers peruse a written text, their brain generates opinions, questions, solutions and connections about what they read. This proves two things: reading is more than decoding and while we are reading, we are also thinking. 

Critical thinking is encouraged in class through strategies employed before, during and after reading. These strategies also allow students to organise and process their thoughts elicited during reading. 

Some pre-reading activities done in class include building vocabulary, making predictions based on images or key words and activating prior knowledge using games, music and videos.

During reading, students’ comprehension is monitored through activities like ‘chunking’ (the text is divided into chunks followed by a discussion of each section); making inferences and decoding unfamiliar vocabulary.

Reading as an enriching experience wouldn’t be complete without post-reading tasks such as responding personally to texts, analysing how the author used words effectively and drawing conclusions.