Apps to Support Reluctant Readers (young children through to high school)

Name and icon of App	Functionality	Who Would it Benefit?
Pocket Pond	Pocket Pond is an app that can be used for calming and relaxation. The sounds are of a pond (birds, insects, water rippling etc.). When a student glides their fingers over the pond, they can startle the fish, add lily pads and dragon flies…	Students who respond well to outdoor sounds, moving fish, and water rippling. Any age can use this app.
My Teddy Bear	The Teddy Bear needs to get dressed. Follow the directions to dress the bear. Save a picture of the bear and display it on another program or the picture frame.	Very young children or those requiring support learning to follow instructions and attending to a task.
Baby Piano	Play songs, such as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, by following the lit up keyboard. The keyboard can be adjusted to play music with animals sounds.	Very young children or those requiring support learning to follow instructions and attending to a task.
ABA Receptive Language	Another great app from Kindergarten.com that asks the students to respond to specific requests, such as, “Touch the egg”. A quick way to evaluate whether or not the child understands spoken language. Excellent visuals!	Young students or English Language Learners- anyone who might be experiencing challenges with receptive language.
Sound Touch	Tap on an animated picture (dog for example) and a real photo of a dog pops up. For every animated picture, two photos are provided to support recognition of the original object. All pictures include sounds associated with the object.	Any young learner or student with delays in learning names of things (animals, musical instruments, vehicles, etc.).
One Rainy Day	This story is jammed packed with little gems to engage a young child-vocabulary development, following instructions, attending to the story, interaction with the text, and the words are highlighted as the text is read aloud. The student can “play” games by following directions.	Any young learner or those with reading delays who enjoys listening to an interactive story.
Five Little Monkeys	Animated, interactive, rhyming story with music, sound and pop up words to support a struggling reader. The words are highlighted as they are read. Tap on a word to have it reread.	Any student would benefit, especially those who have difficulty recognizing rhyming words.
Baby Memory	Memory and vocabulary development. Great voice, music accompanying the game, and different levels are provided.	Early learners, students with cognitive delays, students who require practice to develop their memory.
Dr Seuss’s ABC	Introduction to the alphabet through, rhyme, music, sound/symbol relationship. Tap on words and objects and words pop out and are narrated.	Great for all students, especially those who require additional support with rhyming words, sound symbol correspondence, and letter recognition.
KidArt	Create pictures of all sorts with stamps and drawing. Practice letters and words would be perfect for this app.	Students who are learning to follow instructions, match pictures to words, and print letters would benefit from this app. (use it in conjunction with Pic My Puzzle)
Pic My Puzzle	Student adds a picture to the app and a puzzle is created. The student can use a picture they have created from another app, such as KidArt. The child can recreate their picture by putting their puzzle back together. Some pictures could include specific words to support reading.	Students who are learning to follow instructions, match pictures to words, and print letters would benefit from this app. (use it in conjunction with KidArt)
Starfall ABC’s	Uppercase and lower case letters are presented in an interactive environment. Sound/symbols, animation, pictures and music make this a great interactive app.	This app is great for any student requiring practice with their letter sound correspondence.
iWriteWords	This app reinforces letter recognition, early sight words and how to print (by tracing letters). Uppercase, lowercase and numbers are included in this app. The student can play the abc song just by tapping on the screen.	This app is for students learning to recognize letters and numbers. The app also supports students who are learning to print letters and numbers.
All-in-one-forKids	Learn about the letters and corresponding sounds with pictures to support learning. Matching game included.	Students learning to recognize letters and numbers would benefit from this app.
Moo, Baa, La La La!	Excellent rhyming story with music and lots of opportunities to interact with the story. The text is read aloud and highlighted. When a word is tapped, it will be reread aloud. Fun!	Students requiring support with vocabulary, reading and rhyming, would benefit from this app.
Just Me and My Mom	Wonderful story, lots of vocabulary, interaction with pictures (pop up text), Text highlighted as it is read. Sound effects and music support the learning.	Students learning to read, as well as those who already recognize words would love to read this story. It is engaging, interesting and the interactive nature make it a lot of fun.
My Word Wall	Excellent app supporting the learning of the alphabet, word families and whole words through a variety of activities (saying, reading and writing). Easy to use!	Students learning to read and spell would definitely benefit from this app. In particular, those students requiring direct instruction in word family patterns, would respond well to the activities.
Montessori Crosswords	Excellent app for reinforcing sound/symbol. Word building and spelling with support from excellent child voice	Students learning to read and spell would definitely benefit from this app. In particular, those students requiring direct instruction in word family patterns, would respond well to the activities.
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer	Familiar story. Text is highlighted while being narrated. Pop up words to support pictures. Original voices and music from movie are added for effect.	This books is for students who require reading support, but want to read an entertaining Christmas Story.
IT’s Tyrannosaurus Rex	Nonfiction high interest story. Great descriptive vocabulary. Beautiful pictures.Text is highlighted as it is read. Pop up words for specific pictures. Sound effects of tropical area.	For any student learning to read. The supportive highlighted text is excellent for students with LD. High interest nonfiction.
Three Little Pigs	Beautifully animated and narrated book. The text isn’t highlighted, but it is still and excellent book for students. There are so many hidden pop ups and text pop ups the students will be extremely engaged.	Any age of student would thoroughly enjoy this story and  ask to read it again.
Food Fight	Incredible animation and interaction. Text is highlighted as it is read. As well, when touched, a word will be repeated. The story is engaging and the pictures are great.	For any student. The story is engaging and fun!
Diary of a Worm	This story is filled with humour, facts and funny animation. It isn’t interactive, and the text is not highlighted. But the story is still very engaging.	This book is excellent for accompanying a science lesson or for any child interested in worms. It is narrated, but there is no highlighting.
Pictureka	Game that assists with focusing. Students follow instructions to find specific items. It requires, attention and memory. It is an EB game and is a little crazy and has weird sounds.	For attention and memory challenges. Students who like to search for things will like this app.
Twas the Night Before Christmas	This book by Moving Tales, is an outstanding animated, narrated story. Although the text is not highlighted as it is read,, the entire experience is extremely engaging.	For all students. The book will keep the attention of the students and hopefully, they will want to read more stories by the same developer.
Audiobooks	These books are read aloud by read people (not a digital voice). There is no text support.	Students who require support for reading books at a higher reading level. Some of the free titles include books required for high school.
eReading: Greek Myths	Three Greek myths are included in this ebook. The words are highlighted as it is read. It is not interactive. However, there are opportunities to change the settings.	This book would be for older students interested in reading about the myths.
Nancy Drew	Nancy Drew mysteries are available in ebooks. They are not read aloud, but throughout the book, different items and words can be touched to provide more information. The font size can be changed and background adjusted.	These books are for students who are beginning to read independently, who might require some assistance with reading comprehension.
Digital Comics	This app allows the reader to read graphic novels on the iPad and iPod Touch. There is no narration.	For older students interested in reading stories with limited text.