Word Wagon

Price: $1.99
Grade Recommendation: PreK - 2nd
Subject: Reading
Specific Skill: Phonics
Levels: 4
Players: 1
For iPad, iPod, or Both: Both

If you're looking for a phonics app for early readers, this is an acceptable choice! Users join a mouse and his bird friend on a conveyor belt adventure. There are several categories to choose from: animals, numbers and colors, vehicles, food, and Mozz and Coco (the mouse and bird); you may also choose to get words from all the categories at the same time. After touching an object that passes by, the user must perform a task - according to the selected level.

The app consists of 4 levels:

1 - Letters
The letters that make up the word are scrambled on the screen. The word is also written. The user has to drag the letter onto its matching spot. The device says each letter when they are touched.

2 - Phonics
Quite similar to Level 1 - Letters. However, the app phonetically pronounces each word after the user is done dragging the letters to the matching spot in the word.

3 - Spelling 1
Similar to Level 2 - Phonics. But, students have to figure out the correct order of the letters in order to spell the word.

4 - Spelling 2
It's just like Level 3 - Spelling 1; but the words are slightly more difficult.

You can change the settings for each level to use capital or lowercase letters. A cute little animation occurs after each task is correctly completed.

Sound Sorting: Beginning Sounds

Price: Free!
Grade Recommendation: PreK - 2nd
Subject: Reading
Specific Skill: Phonics
Levels: 1
Players: 1
For iPad, iPod, or Both: Both

This app is developed by Lakeshore Learning - one of my favorite education stores. It's quite simple, yet effective. Students sort pictures of objects according to their beginning sounds.

Here are the objectives it's designed to meet:
- Building phonemic awareness
- Identifying words by beginning sounds
- Matching words by sound

Students can either choose 3 beginning sounds or have the mobile device randomly choose 3 sounds for them. Nine balls with pictures appear on the side. Students must drag each ball under the picture that has that same beginning sound.

I appreciate how the app verbally states both the names of the pictures on the balls and the names of the pictures atop each column.

Incorrect placements cause the picture balls to return to the area where the remaining balls are, giving students another chance to correctly place it.

It would be nice if this app also addressed middle and/or ending sounds. However, that's not its purpose. Despite this, it's still worth retrieving from the App Store.

Word Domino

Price: $0.99
Grade Recommendation: 2nd and up
Subject: Reading
Specific Skill: Spelling/vocabulary
Levels: 3
Players: 1
For iPad, iPod, or Both: Both

The goal is quite simple - build words (from a specific category - like sports) from the syllables shown. In 'classic' mode, syllables are shown on stationary dominoes. But in 'bubbles' mode, the same syllables are shown on floating bubbles - adding a little complexity to the task of making words.

Users can choose between 3 difficulty levels (1, 2, or 3 stars). In addition, you can play a 'Full Game' where categories change during the game. Or you can play a 'Training' round and pick a specific category.

Categories: wild animals, farm animals, musical instruments, the house, furniture, weather, colors, fruits, vegetables, trees, flowers, seaside, clothes, transport, DIY, sports, food and drinks, fishes, verbs, and the human body.

Users may even choose the preferred language - from English, French, Spanish, or German. The app also keeps track of high scores in both game modes.

This is one of the rare apps that's appropriate for an elementary, middle, or high school classroom. At this price point, it's highly recommended!

Letter of the Day Interactive Activities

Price: Free!
Grade Recommendation: PreK - 1st
Subject: Reading
Specific Skill: Letter recognition
Levels: 1
Players: 1
For iPad, iPod, or Both: Both

This app was developed by one of my favorite 'teacher stores' - Lakeshore Learning. Its colorful and simple format is quite appealing. Users start by choosing any letter of the alphabet to complete the 'All About ______' sentence at the top of the screen. Students can began exploring the chosen letter by reading and/or listening to the provided chant.

"Kim does karate kicks at the Kansas Zoo. /k/ /k/ /k/ Keep kicking, Kim!"

Around the chant box are four mystery boxes. In each one, students have to touch the picture that shows an object that starts with the chosen letter. The pictures have the words written on them and the device reads the name of the object when the picture is touched.

Selecting the 'more' arrow at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen provides students with the opportunity to trace the letter several times. A virtual eraser is included with the activity.

This app is a fantastic choice for use with students working on recognizing and writing letters.

iBooks

Price: Free!
Grade Recommendation: All
Subject: Reading
Specific Skill: N/A
Levels: N/A
Players: N/A
For iPad, iPod, or Both: Both

For reasons unknown to me, iPads and iPod Touches do not ship with iBooks installed, despite the fact that the app is Apple's own e-book reader. Nonetheless, this should be one of the first apps you install.

The app links to Apple's iBookstore. I'm impressed with the selection of books available. But beware that books tend to be about the same price you would pay if getting them from a traditional brick-and-mortar bookstore.

The iBookstore is not as user-friendly as I hoped. It's difficult to 'browse'. Rather, you really need to have a title in mind and use the search option to see if it's available. But you can also use the 'Top Charts' option in the 'Children & Teens' category to see popular titles.

Many classic books are available for free! But chances are you'll have to purchase copies of modern/newer and more popular books. The purchasing and downloading processes are super easy and super quick.

Back in the app, all downloaded (either free or purchased) books sit in a beautiful and simple bookshelf. You may also choose to have them in list form instead; this option allows you to organize them by titles, authors, or categories.

There are plenty of other options once you 'open' a book to read. You can adjust the screen's brightness and the text's size and font. Tapping on a word allows you to look it up in the built-in dictionary, highlight it, make a note, or search for the same word in other parts of the story. You're also able to see what page you're on and out of how many. The same thing is true for each chapter ("16 pages left in this chapter"). You can even use the bookmark to hold your spot.

Simply put, no iPad or iPod Touch should be without this app. Make it one of the very first you obtain. Happy Reading! :)

ABC Pocket Phonics

Price: $2.99 (free Lite version)
Grade Recommendation: PreK - 2nd
Subject: Reading
Specific Skill: Phonics
Levels: N/A
Players: 1
For iPad, iPod, or Both: Both

This app would make a good addition to classrooms where students could benefit from simple phonics practice.

Begin in the settings folder - change the handwriting style (D'Nealian or Zaner-Bloser) and lowercase, uppercase, or cursive. You can also select from United States or United Kingdom letter sounds.

Students have a choice between two games - 'Letter sounds and writing' or a 'Word game'.

Letter sounds and writing - The app reads a letter and gives its sound. It also shows users how to write the letter. It then instructs the student to say the letter's sound and encourages them to use their pointer finger to trace the letter.

Word game - The app says one letter sound at a time. Students have to select the letter(s) that's making that sound. The process continues until a word is spelled. Instant feedback is given. Students have the option of having the sound repeated as many times as necessary.

Accelerated Reader

Price: Free!
Grade Recommendation: All
Subject: Reading
Specific Skill: Comprehension & vocabulary
Levels: N/A
Players: N/A
For iPad, iPod, or Both: Both

This is such an exciting app for users who are already familiar with the Accelerated Reader (AR) program! Chances are, your students are already quite adept at taking AR quizzes on a traditional computer. But now they also have the option of doing so on the iPad and/or iPod Touch.

Please note that your students need to already have access to Accelerated Reader - a paid service. Visit http://www.renlearn.com/ar/ for more information.

The AR app is actually simpler than the traditional computer interface. It serves as a great alternative. But it would be beneficial if students already knew how to log in and search for quizzes the traditional way. Be sure to provide students and/or parents with your school's Renaissance Place URL if you want them to access AR through iPads and/or iPod Touches (or even iPhones) away from the school.

See Read Say

Price: $1.99
Grade Recommendation: PreK - 3rd
Subject: Reading
Specific Skill: Sight Words
Levels: 5
Players: N/A
For iPad, iPod, or Both: Both

This app is quite simple. By that, I mean it comes with few bells and whistles. What is does come with is Dolch sight word lists for words in the pre-primer, primer, and grades 1 - 3 levels. The lists cover all 220 words on the Dolch list.

After selecting a level, one word at a time appears. The user may choose 'Speak Word' for the iPad to read the word to them. Touch 'Next Word' or shake the iPad for a new word to appear.

In 'Settings' for this app, you can choose to randomize the words or have them appear in alphabetical order.

Teachers can type in the names of up to 4 users. The app will monitor their progress and save the data.

I highly recommend this app for any classroom that includes students just learning to read. At this price point, it's actually a steal.

Sight Words

Price: $2.99
Grade Recommendation: K - 3rd
Subject: Reading
Specific Skill: Early reading
Levels: 6
Players: N/A
For iPad, iPod, or Both: iPad

This is a great app for use with early readers. For each level, students have access to several dozen sight words from the Dolch list. An appealing voice reads the word when students touch it. Blocks also appear to spell out the word. The letter on each block is read when you touch it. Students can choose a color (blue, red, green, or yellow) to use when they trace the word on the screen. Low-achieving students could easily use this app independently.

Levels and Dolch words:

Pre-Primer - and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you

Primer - all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes

1st Grade - after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, going, had, has, her, him, his, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once, open, over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were, when

2nd Grade - always, around, been, before, best, both, buy, call, cold, does, fast, first, five, found, gave, goes, green, its, made, many, off, or, pull, read, right, sing, sit, sleep, tell, their, these, those, upon, us, use, very, wash, which, why, wish, work, would, write, your

3rd Grade - about, better, bring, carry, clean, cut, done, draw, drink, eight, fall, far, full, got, grow, hold, hot, hurt, if, keep, kind, laugh, light, long, much, myself, never, only, own, pick, seven, shall, show, six, small, start, ten, today, try, warm

Nouns - apple, baby, back, ball, bear, bed, bell, bird, boat, box, bread, cake, car, cat, chair, coat, corn, cow, day, dog, doll, door, duck, egg, eye, farm, farmer, father, feet, fire, fish, floor, flower, game, garden, girl, grass, ground, hand, head, hill, home, horse, house, kitty, leg, letter, man, men, milk, money, mother, name, nest, night, paper, party, pig, rabbit, rain, ring, robin, school, seed, sheep, shoe, sister, snow, song, stick, street, sun, table, thing, time, top, toy, tree, watch, water, way, wind, window, wood

Grover Book

Price: $3.99
Grade Recommendation: K - 2nd
Subject: Reading
Specific Skill: N/A
Levels: 2
Players: N/A
For iPad, iPod, or Both: Both

This is actually a children's book disguised as an app. To this day, 'The Monster at the End of this Book' remains one of my favorite books. This app/book is absolutely delightful! The "lovable, furry old Grover" serves as the narrator (and only character). The words appear and are highlighted as he reads them to students.

The reading experience can be customized. Students can start on a favorite page, rather than from the beginning. 'Parent Tip Mode' activates a setting where parents (or teachers!) can obtain helpful information about getting the most from this app. 'Young Reader Mode' adds an arrow pointing to where students should touch to 'turn' the page. It also makes the text appear altogether and highlights words as Grover reads them. No matter the mode, a yellow glow highlights interactive experiences within the app.

Any student even vaguely familiar with this cute Sesame Street character will certainly enjoy this app/book!