My favorite Literacy iPad Apps to use in the classroom or at home with your children.

1. Authored by Karina D. Barley – M.Ed
To learn more please visit
www.projectautismusa.com
www.digitallearningtree.com

2. This is the third list I have
created in the series,
featuring my favorite iPad
apps
for Literacy.
Enjoy!

3.  Please note the prices are subject to change
 If you click on each app icon it will take you to
the App‟s page on the iTunes App Store
 A lot of the apps are available for Android
through the Google Play Store. Please visit
https://play.google.com/store/apps to find
out more!

4. Alphabet Connect - $3.99 – (Elementary)
Handwriting, letter recognition, number recognition,
shapes & word recognition.
ABC PHONICS - Free - (Elementary)
Writing app – letter and word recognition.
Bluster - Free –(Elementary)
This word matching game develops vocabulary and word understanding
for school-aged children, or anyone brave enough to battle the elements.
You can play in single-player mode or against other players, as students
learn and practice important word skills. Match rhyming words, prefixes
and suffixes, synonyms, homophones, adjectives, and more.

5. ABC Pocket Phonics - $3.99 – (Elementary)
Fun app for sound recognition,
writing & word game.
Alphabetworld - $3.99 – (Elementary)
Interactive alphabet app – letter recognition,
tracing letters, as well as introduction to words
that start with the various letters.
Baby Writer - Free - (Elementary)
Handwriting, word recognition and spelling.
This is a very good app considering it is free.

6. Build a Word - $3.99 – (Elementary/Middle)
Word recognition & spelling.
Comic Life - $5.49 – (Elementary/Middle)
Comic Life, the award winning photo comic creation software,
has been redesigned for iOS. It‟s the most fun, easiest and
fastest way for students to create photo comics on a mobile
device. The comics come to life with an integrated reader on
brilliant iOS displays. Students can easily go from taking photos
to creating full comics all on one device with full page templates
and panel layouts. This is a really fun app for kids to create
writing pieces.

7. Conversation Builder - $7.99 – (All Ages)
A great app for all grades - assists with
speaking; with developing conversations, how
to start and finish conversations; good for
children with autism as well. Could be used for
social conversation, etc.

8. DocAS - $0.99 - (High School)
This app is also a PDF reader, but has the
ability to annotate and make notes over
the top of books, notes etc.
eBook Creator - $4.49 - (All Ages)
A fantastic eBook creator for students.
„eBook Creator‟ is the simplest and easiest
eBook creation app. Its interface is designed
for all ages and skill levels so that young kids
are able to make eBooks using the app.
eBook Magic - $4.99 – (All Ages)
The App for making Books, Pages and iBooks with the most output & share
options. Read yours in iBooks, Order a Printed Book online, and share with
friends. * Optimized for creating any type of book: photo albums, children‟s
books, scrap books, text books* Limited only to your imagination. eBook
Magic can even create one-page letters or photo collages.

9. Evernote - Free – (All Ages)
Evernote is an easy-to-use, free app that helps you remember
everything across all of the devices you use. Evernote lets you take
notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders,
and makes these notes completely searchable, whether you are at
home, at work, or on the go.
Final Argument - $7.99 - (Suitable for Grade 5-6)
Use the iPad to deliver your presentation in the most powerful way
- taking advantage of existing PDF/Keynote/PPT slides, the
interactive whiteboard, video recordings, being always in control of
what's visible to the audience and what's visible just to the
presenter. After that, nothing else remains - as if the beamer was
struck with a huge exclamation mark!
Final Argument is an app designed specifically for presenters,
giving the ability to create presentations „on the fly‟ using content
from many sources.

10. Grafio - $8.99 – (All Ages)
Grafio empowers all of the visual thinkers with this great app. It will
work perfectly for all ages. Students/Teachers can make flow charts,
organizational charts, business process diagrams, venn diagrams, mind
maps, take notes, sketches and other illustrations. Everything is custom
and modifiable. I really like this app.
Grammar Jammers - Free – (Elementary)
(There are more advanced versions for older students)
Uses games, songs, rhymes etc. Grammar Jammers Primary Edition
includes unique animations and quiz questions on the following topics:
Adjectives, Contractions, Nouns, Pronouns, Punctuation, Sentences
Verbs. This company also has a series of apps called Vocabulary Central
for specific grade levels. These are extremely good apps too and they
are also free.

11. Grammar Up - $4.99 (There is a free version) – (Middle/High School)
Grammar Up is a multiple choice quiz system
for English which provides over 1800 questions
across 20 grammar categories.
Grammar Up can help learners to improve their
grammar, word selection and vocabulary.
Grammar Up provides learners with an opportunity
to improve strategies for grammar success.
Interactive Alphabet -$3.99 – (Elementary)
Fun, attractive application for letter recognition.
Intro to Letters - $5.99 – (Elementary)
One of my favorite apps for handwriting, sound recognition, letter
recognition. This is another app by the Montessorium developers. I
recommend any apps they produce, they are extremely good.

12. Kid in Story - $6.99 –
(Elementary and Special Needs Students)
Kid in Story Book Maker makes it easy
and fun to create visual stories to support
learning, social modeling, and early literacy
with the individual child as the star character.
Little Speller1 - Free – (Elementary/Early Years)
Three letter Words spelling. This is a really good app as you
have to match the letters to the words and then it reinforces the
letters in each word. There are a number of different apps in a
similar style.
Little Speller2 $1.19 - (Elementary/Early Years)
Four letter Words spelling. As above

13. Little Speller - $1.19 – (Elementary)
Sight Words Words spelling. As above.
Literacy (Suitable for Aus, UK & USA schools) - $4.49 – (All
Ages)
Students can have experiences in reading, writing, listening and
speaking, viewing and representing using this app. Literacy
contains the education-approved handwriting fonts used in all
UK, US, Australia and New Zealand schools. Literacy is 'open
scaffold' by design and has a toolkit that simply delivers.
Teachers can create your own lessons (scrolling sentences using
our 'Hold and Scroll' approach) with sounds, images and text
and have the students respond via writing or recording audio.
This is a super, amazing app, I love it.
(See also the School Writing app by the same developer).

14. Literary Analysis Guide - $3.99
(This is a bit advanced but could be beneficial for Grade 6
students or those students needing extension)
By arranging the elements of literature graphically around
three wheels (poetry, prose, and rhetoric), teachers and
students are better able to visualize how the elements of
literature develop style and meaning.
Click on any of the literary terms listed around the wheels,
and a screen appears with a detailed definition of the term,
several examples from literature, and additional questions to
ask yourself about how that device is employed in the
literature you are currently studying. Click on “Figures of
Speech” from any of the three wheels, and the “Figures of
Speech Wheel” appears, which functions in the same way as
the three others.

15. Magnetic Alpha - $2.49 – (All Ages)
Use like a blackboard - you can write words, sentences
etc using the magnetic alpha.
Poet's Pad - $6.99 - (Poetry classes/High School)
Poet's Pad is a creative writing tool for poetry and spoken
word which contains powerful idea generating tools that
are designed to inspire creative expression and eliminate
writer's block. This is a great tool for students to explore
poetry writing. *Please note there are some words in this
app that would be deemed inappropriate for Primary
students, however they can be deleted in the settings tab
of the app.

16. ReadNRespond - $0.99 – (Middle/High School)
Organized according to Bloom's taxonomy, this
versatile app provides student response forms that are
applicable to any piece of literature, movie, or text
available. Perfect for middle & upper grades, the forms
can be student-choice or teacher-directed. Teachers
can do group instruction by projecting and completing
a form through a projector or mirroring application.
Model how to do a form in front of the whole class and
then assign it to an individual or small group.

17. Running Records Calculator - $2.99 – (For
Teachers)
With the push of a button, you will be able to
see students‟ reading rate, percentage of
accuracy, and self-correction ratio. Running
Records Calculator is designed to be used by
any teacher who assesses students using
running records.

18. School Writing (There is an Aus, UK & USA version) - $2.99
(All Ages)
Students can intuitively trace pre-handwriting shapes, uppercase
and lowercase letters, numbers, words or whiteboard images that
you import with the touch of a finger. Hear and see letters, words
and numbers with customized associated images and sounds.
Teachers can create your own pre-handwriting shapes and word
lessons.
Completed lessons can be automatically emailed to the teacher or
parent with the student‟s tracings and recordings included. Love,
love this app. It is so good and has so many aspects to it; the best
feature is that you can customize your own lessons and students
can learn independently using this app.
(See also the Literacy app by the same developer).

19. Scribble Press - $4.49 – (Elementary)
Scribble Press for iPad is a book creation platform that allows
kids to create and share their own stories with hundreds of great
drawing and writing tools. Download your books instantly to
your iBooks library!
Shakespeare Pro - $9.99 - (Poetry classes)
This is one of the 'author' apps that can be used within the
classroom. Inside the app are the Shakespeare plays, important
information, glossary, concordance, quotes etc

20. Show Me, Educreations, Screen Chomp, Knowmia & Explain
Everything (Explain Everything is $2.99) – (All Ages)
These three apps are brilliant for lesson demonstrations for future
lessons.
Sight Words Pro - $2.49 – (All Ages)
Common word list - listen and read. The developers also have other
apps with additional spelling/word lists. I use this in conjunction
with Spellboard as it has a comprehensive group of well-known
spelling lists such as the dolche lists, Mioow words etc.

21. Simple n‟ Easy, English Grammar, Writing and Spelling (WAGmob) - $1.99
(All Ages)
On-the-go learning app for English Grammar, English Writing, and
Spelling. The app helps you understand the basics in a nice and organized
manner. Features include tutorials, quizzes, flashcards and more. App is
continuously updated based on feedback.
Simplex Spelling Phonics 1 – English - $5.49 – (All Ages)
Teaches a full year of spelling curriculum with over 450 high frequency
words divided into 42 lists that are organized by spelling patterns and
difficulty levels. These basic building blocks include the different
phonograms, sounds, and spelling rules. (There are other versions of this
app that suits other age levels).

22. Skill Builder Spelling - Free – (Elementary)
For a free app, this has a lot of depth. Has word development, spelling
and also has mini tests in spelling.
Spellboard - $5.99 – (All Ages)
Teachers can upload their own spelling lists, record using their voice
to speak the words & then the list is created, which can be tested.
Keeps a record of results as well, so can be used to keep student
records. The app has been upgraded to now include a word search &
word activity. This is a brilliant app for any spelling program.

23. Story Builder $3.99 – (All Ages)
Similar to conversation builder, but prompts in storytelling.
Sentence Builder & Question Builder –
(Elementary/Special Needs/Learning Disability)
Sentence Builder is designed to help children learn how to build
grammatically correct sentences. The rich fun environment, added
with the picture cues is especially positive for children with learning
issues. Question Builder is designed to help elementary aged
children learn to answer abstract questions and create responses
based on inference. Extensive use of audio clips promotes improved
auditory processing for special needs children with autism or
sensory processing issues.

24. Story Patch - $1.19 – (All Ages)
Creates stories with pictures and you can include text.
The pictures are used as prompts.
Strip Designer - $2.99 - (All Ages)
This is a brilliant writing app where students can create
comic strip type documents. They can add pictures,
clip art, stickers, writing, speech bubbles, etc. This is
an excellent app as the possibilities are endless.

25. Teach By Knowmia – Free – (For Teachers/All Ages)
This is my favorite screencasting app right now. It has so many
different components to it and is extremely easy to use. You
Screencasts can be sent to students, downloaded as an mp4 and
used for flip teaching.
Tools 4 Students - $0.99 - (Middle/High School)
Excellent app that has a range of tools for teachers to use with
their students in the classroom. Covers all common
comprehension skills: cause /effect, main idea/detail, sequence
events, story elements, characterization, word meaning and more.
Use to organize notes while reading or use them as a pre-write to
school papers.

26. uWrite - $3.99 – (All Ages)
Great for writing, drawing and doodling. Gives a bit of freedom, but
can also be used to practice writing skills.
Videoscribe - $5.49 – (All Ages)
VideoScribe is a completely unique way to create engaging animated
videos quickly and easily. Often called Whiteboard animation or
sometimes Fast Drawing, VideoScribe replicates the stop-motion
capture style of drawing that's so popular on commercials at a
fraction of the cost.

27. Vocabulary Spelling City – Free (with in app purchases)
(All Ages)
VocabularySpellingCity is a fun way to learn spelling
and vocabulary words by playing engaging learning
games using any word list. The most popular activities
are Spelling TestMe, HangMouse, and our vocabulary
games, available to Premium Members. The free app
includes ten of the most popular word lists and eight
of the most popular learning games and activities.

28. There are more of my favorite apps lists to come!
I have over 400 apps on my iPad and Android
tablets and will continue to share my reviews with
you.
These apps can be used in the classroom or just
at home.
To learn more please visit
www.projectautismusa.com
www.digitallearningtree.com