Literacy

Whilst we live in an age of multi-media where visuals and audio seem to be dominant in every day life, text is not going away any time soon. Fortunately working on the iPad with its high quality larger screen makes working with text easy and effective. Currently Pages is the only serious word processing and page layout app available, although there is plenty of note-taking software on the app store. Pages gives you the kind of text manipulation, eg. font, size, colour, alignment, bullets, etc. you would expect in a traditional word processing app with the added bonus of handling images, tables and charts very well.

The bundled Notes app is functional and pretty basic but can be useful for when plain text will suffice. There are plenty of other note-taking apps out there if you prefer a different one. There are also plenty of story books on the App Store too.

Extreme Monsters #1 (free/£1.49)

Popular children’s book made for the iPad - first book free, others cost £1.19.

Spell Blocks (£1.49)

Simple spelling app for very young children - has American accent and phrasing.

Dictionary.com (free/£2.99)

There are a number of dictionaries on the App Store but I like this one for its ease of use & clean layout.

WordWeb (free)

This is another good dictionary with some useful links to external references on the net.

abc Joined Up (free/£1.99)

Letter writing app which teaches learners to write cursively, join letters, etc. - use British accent voice.

Magnetic Alphabet (free/£1.49)

Graphically pleasing app which reproduces the magnetic board used in schools for spelling etc.

The Four Seasons (free)

Delightful young children’s story book with great graphics and animations.

WordSearch Unlimited (free/£0.69)

Straightforward word search app replicating those found in magazines, newspapers etc.

Letter Find (£1.49)

Simple letter recognition app which could help those who have difficulty identifying individual letters.

Word Solitaire HD (free)

Addictive solitaire game using letters to make words - can get quite difficult in the later stages.

Word Domino (free/£0.69)

App for primary children to practice and learn vocabulary and reading skills.

The Fantastic Flying Books of... (£2.99)

Beautiful and Stunning book app with wonderful animated graphics.

Our Story (free)

Although this is an iPhone app, it works well on the iPad and is a great story-making process.

Idioms (free/£2.49)

163 traditional English idioms are analysed with comic-style graphics to explain their meaning.

Alphabet Animals HD (£1.49)

App for younger children to help with pronunciation and forming of letters.

Shakespeare (free/£6.99)

Contains all of Shakespeare’s 41 plays, 154 sonnets and 6 poems - rated as 12+.

Kids Can Spell - Animals (free/£0.69)

Simple spelling game for younger children which has British accent - good graphics with sounds.

Writer’s Hat (£0.69)

One of those apps which throws out random words to trigger creativity and imaginative responses.

Shakespeare in Bits - R. & J. (free/£10.49)

Romeo & Juliet version of great animated story and analysis of the play - other titles available too.

Animal Similes (£1.49)

Useful app for younger learners getting to grips with similes - slightly robotic British English voice.

Poetry Creator (free + in-app)

Fridge magnet type app which gives collections of words for inspiration and ideas - interesting interface.

Visual Poet (free)

This is a very simple app which I think works really well - 3 images married to 3 lines of text.

iWriteWords (free/£1.99)

Aimed at young children who are learning the alphabet and basic spelling.

Grammar App (£1.49)

Useful app which looks at the building blocks of grammar & punctuation - some American language.

Pages (£5.99)

A great app by Apple which does word-processing and page layout beautifully.

Toy Story (free)

Wonderful interactive story book from Disney which reads the text and has many great extras.

Book Creator (£2.99)

Great app which creates eBooks & can export to iBooks, email or Dropbox - photos, audio & text.

Jirbo WordSearch HD (free)

Fairly standard and simple word search app which is good for literacy purposes.

abc PocketPhonics (free/£1.99)

UK designed literacy app which helps young learners with their phonics and letter formation.

Cat in the Hat (free/£1.99)

Great version of this classic children’s story with good graphics and extra features.

Creative Book Builder (£2.49)

eBook creator whilst not as intuitive as Book Creator, does offer more functionality.

Alice for the iPad (free/£5.99)

Extraordinary version of Alice in Wonderland with beautiful animations and artwork.

Kindle (free)

Reader which allows access to the many books on the Amazon book store - some of which are free.

Free Books (free)

Similar to iBooks but offers access to a vast range of free ebooks - some for 17+ age range.

Simon Graham & the Extraordinary Timepiece (£1.49)

Story suitable for KS2 learners which contains puzzles to solve integral to the narrative.

Of Mice and Men (£0.69)

One of a series of English Literature apps designed for revision at GCSE level.

Poet’s Pad (£6.99)

(Expensive) poem creating app probably best suited for Years 5/6 and KS 3 and 4.

eBanner (free/£1.49)

Simple banner app which allows you to have a word or phrase scrolling across the iPad screen.

Storyteller HD (£1.49)

Comes with 1000s of characters, plots, locations, themes, story-twists to act as random story ideas.

Jumbline 2 (free/£1.99)

Addictive word based anagram app with 3 ways of playing - some questionable words.

Dictionarium (free)

Useful text based dictionary/encyclopaedia - rated 12+ and is based around American English.

Bluster (free)

Really nice literacy app for younger children (KS1 & 2) - match rhyming words - good graphics.

Kid Editor (£0.69)

Interesting literacy app which encourages young children to learn words & increase their vocabulary.

British Alphabet (free/£0.69)

Basic letter and word recognition for young children using a British accent.

Word Genius Lite (free/£0.69)

Nice word-based app a bit like word search but with a timer & no clues about which words are needed.

Grammar Basics (free/£1.49)

Quiz-based app which contains 400 questions covering many aspects of English grammar.

Batleby’s Book of Buttons (£0.69)

Fabulous interactive reading book with plenty of options and puzzles to keep the reader engaged.

Instant Poetry (£1.49)

Random word generator using themes to trigger creative writing - can personalise interface.

Idiom in Use (£1.49 + £1.49)

Another idiom app which lists and analyses many popular phrases - in app purchase to unlock all 750.

Sounds (free/£3.49)

Very good pronunciation app which has British English voice - free version has limited vocabulary.

Scribble Press (free)

Really nice eBook creation app aimed at younger learners - good graphic options but no audio/video.

Cursive Practice (free/£0.69)

Straightforward cursive writing practice app for letters & numbers  paid version removes ads.

For All Seasons (free)

Like Strange Rain app below, this could be a great vehicle for creative and imaginative story writing.

Strange Rain (£1.49)

Unique and thought provoking app which with the right teacher’s input, could be great for storytelling.

Animal Idioms & Metaphors (£1.49)

Sister app to Animal Similes - enables learners to explore figurative language.