My favourite apps for reluctant readers
- Name of app: Raz-Kids
Description of app: This app includes books and songs that help teach kids how to read using animated story books. Children can read along with the highlighted words as the narrator reads aloud.
This app provides a selection of hundreds of interactive, leveled books spanning 27 levels of difficulty, while covering a wide range of subjects.
Why I chose it: Most students at the elementary level are familiar with the website and how to use it. This app is an extension of the website, which is easily accessible for all who have an ipad. I chose this app because not only can students see the words they are reading, but they also have the words highlighted and read aloud to them as they read. It’s easy to navigate for a child as well. I also like that teachers can customize assignments, view reports, and track student progress using this app, not to mention, reluctant readers can use this on their own at home for reading pleasure.
Who would benefit: All students, but particularly those who are auditory learners and students who have difficulty with decoding text and phonological awareness. This app would mainly be used as a compensatory app for reluctant readers. This app can help engage students who need extra motivation and it can help students to see their own progress, helping them gain confidence in their reading skills.
Description of app: The latest version of the iBook is particularly useful for children because it offers a read-aloud feature in which a narrator reads the book to you. For some books, the screen highlights words as you read along. You can also write your own novel (students, too), which can be published and shared throughout the class. This app allows you to download classic books, enjoy picture books and novels, so it’s great for students of all ages. In addition, there is a feature that allows interactive learning, diagrams, videos and pictures that go along with text to encourage reluctant readers. The font is easy to read and you have a choice of page layout.
Why I chose it: This is a great app to use in for students to share their published writing activities in addition to using this app for reluctant readers. I know for many students, this app is a motivator when writing and reading. Students are motivated to create a quality piece of writing which can be published in iBook, but also students rely upon their iBook book shelf during reading activities as opposed to the anxiety ridden paperback novels. I chose this app because it is an all around fantastic app to use for many different reluctant readers and for students who have a passion for reading.
Who would benefit: iBook is an excellent app for students who require assistance in reading and need to hear the words for comprehension as opposed to just seeing/decoding the text independently. I have a student in grade 5 who using this app daily. His classmates read the novel, "Holes' aloud each day. He has a hearing impairment and gets extremely frustrated when having to rely on his classmates to read aloud. He will put headphones on and listen to "Holes" on iBook while reading along. He then can participate in the discussion and complete a reading response to the book. Students can also post their own books (that they have published) on iBooks as well. Readers can change translate the text as it reads written text in 18 languages. This is a perfect app for ESL students who may find comfort in the ability to translate if needed. There is a built in word or phrase finder so you can locate quotes, characters and the like. You can adjust the brightness of the screen so students who are visually impaired can use this app as well.
Description of app: Pocket Phonics teaches children more than 170 frequently used words. This app plays a recording of a letter and then asks the child to find the letter out of a group of about eight letters. When the child selects the correct letter, he or she receives a thumbs up and moves on.
Why I chose it: I chose this app because it focuses on sight word recognition by using the visual and also the auditory in combination.
Who would benefit: Students who need extra support in sight word recognition, students who need practice identifying letters and words and phonemic awareness would benefit from using this app. The app provides positive feedback and acts like a game, so for students who need extra motivation, this is a great one. This app would benefit someone with a phonological deficit.
Description of app: This app is a novel version of sight word flashcards. Using a flash card deck of sight words, children will develop the building blocks of reading. This app includes voice prompts, examples (which we know are extremely important), and has easy-to-read text.
Why I chose it: This app focuses on sight word recognition using voice prompts, examples and straight forward easy text. This is an app that students can use on a daily basis in order to practice sight word recognition. This is a fun way for students to practice high frequency words, spelling and reading strategies.
Who would benefit: Students in the primary grades or those who need extra practice with sight word recognition. This app is designed for kids from Kindergarten to second grade (although can be used with students much older who may have a cognitive or developmental delay in language).
Description of app: This app offers word analysis practice in several forms and on several levels. It’s a great way for kids to learn to see patterns such as rhyming words, prefixes and suffixes, and other structural/phonetic similarities as well as usage categories such as adjectives and synonyms. This matching game allows for individual, self-paced practice, teamwork, and even competitive speed practice.
Why I chose it: This is an app that students get excited to use. Often times when we encourage our students who are reluctant readers to engage in a reading activity it causes anxiety and great reservation. This app may possibly be a fun and easy way to help students become desensitized to their reluctance and begin to gain confidence in their reading ability by practicing strategies in reading that will help build the foundation for their progress. This app help kids to see patterns and structural/phonetic similarities, so it’s a excellent tool to educate students in reading strategies.
Who it would benefit: Often students who have a learning disability in reading, recognizing and recalling basic patterns in literacy can take much longer and requires a lot more practice compared to students who do not have a learning disability in reading. Having access to an app such as this for students to practice. Students who are very reluctant and are not easily engaged in many literary activities may find common ground and comfort in using this app. This is a remedial app that can be used with students at any age, but most likely early elementary.
6. Name of app: Booksy
Description of app: This app is designed to help children practice and develop their reading skills, students can download books that help to build comprehension, give cues, and even track progress with detailed user stats.
Why I chose it: This is an excellent app for kids to use if they need practice with reading comprehension. I also like this app because it tracks student’s progress, which will help students and teacher see their development, aiding in confidence and potentially enjoyment of reading.
Who would benefit: Not only will this app help students with reading comprehension, providing cues, but this app will actually track progress with detailed user stats, so students and teachers can see progress throughout the school year. Other reading strategies that this app will most certainly help improve in students include predicting, inferring, making connections and synthesizing.
7.Name of app: Word Wall
Description of app: Children can develop early reading skills with the help of My Word Wall, an educational app for budding readers. Students will hear, visualize, vocally repeat, and write down letters and words to learn, plus get engaged with educational activities that are great for all learning styles. Fun games and structured learning make this app a great choice.
Why I chose it: I chose this app because it is inclusive of all styles of learners, it is engaging to students and it encompasses audio and visual learning in a game format that is more intriguing to reluctant readers.
Who would benefit: Students who need to hear and see the words in combination would benefit from using this app, in addition to students who may have a learning disability in reading such as a phonological deficit, processing speed deficit would benefit from using this app.
8.Name of app: Reading Raven
Description of app: Reading Raven is a reading game app. This app is one that helps makes the reading process more fun especially for reluctant readers. This app includes a reading adventure guide that offers practice with phonological awareness, practice making full sentences and printing and spelling skills practice.
Why I chose it: This app aids in teaching kids how to write full sentences, practice printing and spelling skills as well as helping with phonological awareness. I know a few students who recommended this app to me, so if students are recommending it, I can be assured that it must be a kid friendly and fun app to use.
Who would benefit: Students who have difficulty with syntax, decoding text would benefit from using this app. In addition, those who may have difficulty with processing and language barriers such as ESL students.
9. Name of app: Aesop’s Quest
Description of app: In Aesop’s Quest, Aesop the Ant reads through stories, revealing clues that help him in his quest. Little readers must remember important elements of each story to help Aesop along the way, developing reading comprehension and cognitive reading skills in a really fun way.
Why I chose it: There are a handful of students who I teach that use this app and they really enjoy it. I know in order to buy into reading , setting the stage must take place and using this app allows for investigation of information in the book in a way that is fun and takes the focus off of reading and more onto playing and investigating.
Who would benefit: This app helps to develop a child’s reading comprehension in a fun way. In order to find clue to help Aesop on his quest, students must be using reading strategies to improve memory, recall of information and details in stories and also sequencing of stories. This app is excellent to help motivate reluctant readers, it can draw upon background knowledge, it definitely draws upon analytical skills and is an app that many students will not view as being school work, but instead a game.
Description of app: This app helps to develop a daily reading habit that delivers a brand new book every day. Fun features include text highlighting as you read and the ability to touch characters and explore story lines.
Why I chose it: I was unfamiliar with this app until one of my students in grade 3 showed me while we were using his ipad. He was really excited to show me a story he had been reading and wanted to share it with me. He is a very reluctant reader, so seeing his excitement definitely suggested to me that this is a truly important app for him to encourage him to read more.
Who would benefit: The student who shared this app with me has ASD and has great difficulty staying on task when participating in classroom activities; however, when using this app he is completely engaged and focused. This is a great app for someone who needs to be able to explore the story line and characters in an interactive manner and have the ability to hear the words aloud while reading in order to be independent. It is amazing to see a student who is often dependent upon his teachers and teaching assistant to enjoy using an app such as this to read and show his independence and confidence in his own abilities.
11. Name of app: Scholastic Reading TImer
Description of app: This app encourages daily reading with this iPad reading timer that keeps track of reading minutes and monitors weekly reading goals. It works just like a real stopwatch, but it’s fun for kids to see their reading minutes add up.
Why I chose it: I chose this app because I like that it encourages students to take responsibility for their own reading, allowing them to monitor their own progress, make their own goals for the reading process and also keep track of their own reading log.
Who would benefit: One of my students relies upon his timer for just about every activity he participates in during school time. He needs structure and clear expectations to motivate him to do his best. This app is perfect for him because it allows him to make his own goals (with teacher assistance) for him to be mindful of when reading. He likes knowing how much time he has to read as it puts his anxiety at ease and help him to be organized.
12. Name of app: C is for Cow
Description of app: With this app, kids can have fun learning phonetics and letter recognition. This is an app that is meant for early elementary or even pre-elementary or those with cognitive developmental delays. This app helps to teach children letter sounds, word sounds and the basics when it comes to learning to read.
Why I chose it: I chose this app because it’s a simple, fun way to learn letter sounds and words.
Who would benefit: This would benefit students who need practice with letter recognition, word recognition and those who need a little extra motivation to practice phonics. this would also be beneficial for students in early elementary who have difficulty with phonological awareness, processing of information and working memory difficulty.
13. Name of app: GoodReader
Description of app: This is an app that transforms text to speech on text files. This app is intended as a pdf reader, a text to speech reader for text files and is perfect for many students who are reluctant readers.
Why I chose it: I chose this app because it’s compatible for ipads/iphones/ipods and DropBox. This is an app that students can use not only for in class assignments, but students can also use this on their own personal devices outside of school as well.
Who would benefit: This app is more appropriate for older students as it’s intended as a pdf reader, a text to speech reader for text files including doc., docx and txt. This would be a perfect app for a visually impaired student and students with auditory language barriers. This would also be an app I would recommend for student’s with a learning disability in reading. I have two students at the junior high level that would benefit from using this app in addition to read-iris and claropdf.
14.Name of app: TextGrabber
Description of app: This app is similar to ReadIris in that it transforms a paper hard copy of text into a readable pdf. This is compatible with iphone cameras, text to speech, intended mainly for iPhone, but can also be used on ipads as well and ipods.
Why I chose it: I chose it because it is compatible with iphones and ipads, which means that students can use this app not only on their ipad, but also on their phone (if they have an iphone that is) and ipod, which makes it accessible at all times.
Who would benefit: This is an app, like GoodReader that is more appropriate for older students as it’s intended as a pdf reader, a text to speech reader. This would be a perfect app for a visually impaired student and students with auditory language barriers. This would also be an app I would recommend for student’s with a learning disability in reading.
Description of app: This app is meant for transforming text to speech in pdf files. It also highlights text while you read, for easier tracking ability. In addition, there is a high quality voice used (not robotic like most) when reading the text aloud to students. This voice reader is also available in various languages, so it is perfect for ESL students. Not to mention, you can easily import pdf files from Safari, email attachments and DropBox.
Why I chose it: I chose this app because it is easy to use, attractive for older students and is compatible with students who need text read aloud and possibly may need language translated.
Who should benefit: I would recommend this app to students who are at the junior high, high school level who require text to speech compensatory feature with research projects, reading emails and attached documents and also to students who would benefit from having access to translator features. I found that some of my students last year struggled with understanding exam questions because of their language barrier. Having access to this app may help students with comprehension of the question without providing them with the answer. It is inclusive of these students and provides them to be on an equal playing field.
Description of app: This app is designed to help students build reading comprehension skills. Students read passages, then test their understanding of the who, what, why, when, and where at three different levels of reading difficulty.
Why I chose it: I chose this app because it is easy to use and encourages students to think about the who, what, when, where and why in everything they are reading. This app is great for all students and can be implemented into the Language Arts curriculum for all learners.
Who would benefit: Students who are reluctant readers because of their understanding/ decoding of text and promotes reading comprehension. This is an app that I would use in my classroom with all students to improve upon their understanding of text and analytical skills.
17. Name of app: Nebulous Notes
Description of app: The purpose of this app is a text editor for students that have low vision. This app includes a text to speech option, print or share via email, integrates DropBox and can be used on ipad/iphone or an ipod touch.
Why I chose it: Although this is an app to aid in writing tasks, we cannot forget how intertwined the writing and reading process are. Students who have a vision impairment and speech impairment not only show difficulty in writing, but in fact reading as well. This app allows students to read their work and their peers work in an easier manner.
Who would benefit: This is a beneficial app for all, particularly for students with low vision. There is an option for large font, variable contrast between text and background. This would also be great for students who have visual impairment and speech impairment. THis app also is accessible to many students, particularly those who already own an ipod or iphone as it is compatible with these devices as well.
18. Name of app: Phonics genius
Description of app: Phonics Genius is a flash card style app designed to help kids learn words by letter sounds. It encourages kids to notice and think about the individual sounds in spoken words. Phonics Genius has over 6,000 words grouped into 225 categories, including single letter and letter combination sounds. There's also a listening game where kids match visual and spoken words, as well as pre-recorded audio playback to help kids hear each word clearly. The words in Phonics Genius are best for kids with previous reading experience, rather than beginning readers.
Why I chose it: Kids can learn how to listen and look for letter sounds with the Phonics Genius app. They can also learn how to piece together different letter sounds that form words. The pre-recorded audio playback helps kids sound out words (they can record their own voice or their parents, too). I chose this app because it’s a fun way for kids to learn and practice this essential reading skill, especially if they've had some prior reading experience.
Who would benefit: This is a great app for students who need practice with speech, for example there is added articulation practice mode so users can first record their own voice and then listen and compare it to the recorded pronunciation. This is also a great app for kids who need practice with decoding, phonological awareness, who may have a deficit in processing, memory and or a reading disability.
19. Name of the app: Cat in the Hat
Description of app: The Cat in the Hat app is an interactive book app that allows students to explore pictures, increase their vocabulary and has a text to speech feature that students can use to narrate the story themselves.
Why I chose it: Many students love Dr. Seuss, so using an app that incorporates classic stories helps to encourage and motivate students. This app also highlights the words while it narrates, it allows students to learn new vocabulary words by tapping on the word they are unsure of and it shows pictures to go along with the word. In addition, students can record their own narration and share it with other peers. This app is engaging and builds students confidence in reading in a fun, comfortable manner.
Who would use it: I think that this is an app that most students at the elementary level could use to expand their vocabulary, practice reading fluency and reading strategies, such as inferring, predicting and synthesizing.
20. Name of app: Hooked on phonics
Description of app: This app is based upon a program that has existed for a long time. This app helps to build children’s reading fluency, provides practice with letter sounds, words and writing and reading sentences. This app is designed for students who need practice with phonemic awareness, oral language, alphabetic knowledge and print awareness. This app address different stages of reading, which is great for a variety of learners.
Why I chose it: I chose this app because I know it has been proven to work for many different types of learners. It has a focus on individual needs of students and provides a wide selection of lessons for teachers and students. This app includes music, games, lessons and stories that engage students. This is an app that can be used in school and can also be given to students to use at home for extra practice. I chose this app because it’s great to beginning readers and to reinforce skills at home and at school.
Who would benefit: Currently, the app only is leveled up to a grade 2 reading level, but they are in the process of creating books and lessons for higher level readers as well. This is a perfect app for students who are beginner readers who need extra practice with their alphabet, letter sounds and those who need practice with reading fluency.
21. Name of app: ReadIris
Description of app: This app has an editable text feature that can be used for scanned documents and pdf files.This app allows you to import images from your photo library or import pdf files, not to mention it recognizes over 130 languages. This app is designed to allow users to select content they want converted, reordered scanned images and to choose the output format in which to be used and to export the new files into iCloud (no internet connection necessary) so it can be used at your convenience anytime.
Why I chose this app: I love this app because it recognizes all text, graphics, images and tables in documents. It is easy to use, reliable and of high quality unlike many app that claim to have the same purpose.
Who would benefit: Students who would benefit the most from using this app are ESL students, students who need documents converted in order to use the text to speech feature in claropdf. This is an app that I would highly recommend for students who have a learning disability in reading, students who have a visual impairment and need text read to them aloud (using this in combination with claropdf) and for students who need text read to them during tests. This also useful for students who tend to be disorganized. Instead of keeping track of paper documents, they can scan all of their paper copies onto readIris and rely upon having the copy at their finger tips.
22. Claropdf
Description of app: This is an app that includes features such as text to speech, highlighting text options, proofreading accessible text. It allows the user to have more accessibility to text documents. Claropdf allows the background colour of the pdf to be changed, to enhance readability. It also supports VoiceOver. You can increase the font using this app, so students with visual impairment can have access to the same documents. There is text search within the document, so you can search long documents for a particular place of interest.
Why I chose it: Many of my students at the junior high level and even at the elementary level use this app. It’s easy to use, comprehensive and allows students to participate in the same activities as the rest of the class and allowing students to have independence in their participation. This app allows students to read text and complete assignments with more independence because they are able to manipulate the text.
Who would benefit: This is an excellent tool for all students; however those who would benefit the most from this app are students who struggle with reading comprehension, phonological deficits, processing deficits, reading disabilities. Students who used to rely upon having a teacher read their assignments orally and received oral testing, now can use this app independently to complete assignments and tests. I have seen the direct impact it has had on my students with reading disabilities and they could not be more proud of themselves for gaining independence and confidence in their own ability. It is really heart warming to see the progress my students have made simply from having access to this app.
Hi Elaine,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing another batch of what look to be great blogs. I particularly enjoyed reading about the blogs you have included as they are applications that are useful for my own teaching practice. As a new learner about this type of technology for supporting students I am grateful for any information at all that makes the location and use of good apps a faster process...there never seems to be enough time. You have provided some great guidance with your descriptions and recommendations for whom these apps would support...in particular many of my students who are either struggling with issues related to oral language development (particularly phonological awareness), students with autism and students who struggle with engagement issues....
In particular I was happy to read about text to speech type apps that allow for (easy?) conversion of text to speech in order to provide accessibility for my many students who struggle to read...this compensatory tool is great in allowing me to help students have access to the information contained in more difficult text pieces. I look forward to checking out some of the apps you have listed....thanks for sharing!
I'm really enjoying going through the apps. Having only been introduced to them since I started this course, they are all new to me. When I get an ipad I will be using many of these apps. It's so great to have others find them!
ReplyDeleteElaine, your descriptions are very helpful in helping me determine which ones would be helpful for my students, and ones to keep in mind for other teachers. I have noted quite a good number of the apps for future reference.
Bluster sounds like an app that would be useful for some of my students who need to be exposed to word patterns in a different way. Read Raven would also suit my students as it seems like a lot of fun and it supports sentence development-an area which also tends to need remediation for students struggling with the reading process. Aesop's Quest was another app I like and I haven't come across comprehension apps yet. I also like the Scholastic Reading Tine app not just for reading but for telling time and counting. Having a purpose for learning about time and counting always helps students learn faster. Helen