Phonics and Sight Words
Phonics Match
Available from: Apple App Store and Android Stores Description: The free version of this app involves turning over cards to try to find a matching pair of phonemes. This app is nice as it uses the letter sounds rather than the letter names. The full version is based on the Jolly Phonics sets of sounds. You can choose a set of sounds to learn about and can then go on to play the matching game with these sounds. Cost: Free/€2.99 Rating: 4.5/5 
Sight Words by Photo Touch
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a great app for assessing sight vocabulary. The narrator calls out a sight word and the child has to tap the correct word. The app has lots of customisable features including choosing/recording the success sounds which could include the voice of the teacher, a parent or the child. You can also add your own words to the app which could be used to practise new vocabulary based on class readers, topics or words that the child finds challenging to remember. Cost: Free/€1.09 Rating: 5/5 |
Phonics Genius
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app has over 6000 words on it which are grouped into word families. There are two ways to play-Learn Mode and Play Mode which can be selected from the settings menu. This app would be great to use in class when introducing a new sound or when revising sounds also. The app can also be customised to include your own flashcards and to change the font. Cost: Free/€1.09 Rating: 4.5/5 |
Sight Words Word Search Game
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a super app which allows children to learn how to spell sight words once they are familiar with hearing and reading them. A sight word is called out and children must find the word within the grid. The game offers hints by showing children where the first letter they need to find a word is. This is a very fun and enjoyable game which can be customised within the settings menu. Cost: €0.99 Rating: 4.5/5 
Touch the Sound
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is great for developing an awareness of sounds and would fit in with Phase 1 of the Jolly Phonics programme. Children simply have to listen to a sound and then choose the picture that matches the sound. The themes covered include animals, home, musical instruments, nature and transport. The app is fully customisable and could be used to add familiar sounds from a child's own surroundings. Cost: Free/€0.99 Rating: 4.5/5 |
Jolly Phonics Letter Sounds App
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a super app which supports the excellent Jolly Phonics synthetic phonics programme. Teachers can create multiple user profiles for different students. The app covers letter sounds and formation and segmenting and blending through a range of fun games. Cost: €5.49 Rating: 4.5/5 
Oxford Owl
Available from: www.oxfordowl.co.uk (save as a shortcut on your tablet) Description: This is a superb website which offers access to over 140 free ebooks which can be used on a variety of devices including tablets and laptops. Teachers can create a class login which can be shared with parents so that these books can be enjoyed at home also. There is an option to listen to the stories being read aloud or the children can read them independently. This website features some stories from the Biff, Chip and Kipper series also. Cost: Free Rating: 5/5 |
PocketPhonics Stories
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is one of the most comprehensive apps on the market for developing reading skills. This app follows the Jolly Phonics teaching sequence and covers letter sounds and formation, word formation, segmenting and blending words and also has 42 storybooks for early readers which are matched to each letter set. The app allows the class teacher to track the progress of each student and children can automatically continue their learning on different devices at school and at home once their profile has been created. Certificates are automatically emailed to parents and teachers when a child learns a set of letters and successfully reads the books on their level. There is a handy reference guide available for schools who are using this app and it can be found here. Cost: Free/€21.99 Rating: 5/5 |
Oobie's Space Adventure
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is an interactive eBook about Space which children will enjoy. They can hear the story being read or can read it themselves. Cost: Free Rating: 4.5/5 |
Fry Words
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app allows children to practise high frequency words in order to improve their fluency. The words are taken from Fry's list of 1000 words and appear in 10 groups. One of the best features on this app is the ability to add your own word lists which you can do to include words from the class reader and words associated with the class or child by selecting 'Customise Flashcards' from the Settings menu. You can also record your voice or the students' voices reading the words that you have added and choose different fonts and colours for the words to assist the reader. There are two modes-Learn and Quiz mode which can be selected from the Settings menu. Cost: Free/€0.99 Rating: 5/5 
abc Pocket Phonics (Basic)
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a great app which allows your students to develop their knowledge of letters and sounds including letter formation. Cost: Free/€6.99 Rating: 4.5/5 |
Sight Words
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a good app which allows children to practise their sight words in order to improve their fluency. The words are taken from the Dolch list and appear in 6 groups. One of the best features on this app is the ability to add your own word lists which you can do to include words from the class reader and words associated with the class or child by selecting 'Customise Flashcards' from the Settings menu. You can also record your voice or the students' voices reading the words that you have added and choose different fonts and colours for the words to assist the reader. There are two modes-Learn and Quiz mode which can be selected from the Settings menu. Cost: Free/€1.09 Rating: 5/5 
Sight Words
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a fun and engaging app which allows children to practise their sight words in order to improve their fluency. The words are taken from the Dolch list and appear in 6 groups. Choose from games including Word Machine, Gears, Bingo, Memory Games, Spelling and Flash Cards. There is also the option to change the letter cases for each game. Cost: Free/€2.99 Rating: 5/5 |
Writing
ABC PreSchool Playground Free
Available from: Android Stores Description: This app allows children to choose a letter and practise forming the lower and upper case. There are lots of different colours available that can be used for 'rainbow writing.' Cost: Free Rating: 4/5 |
Wet Dry Try Suite App
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is based on the popular Handwriting Without Tears programme and includes formation of lower and upper case letters as well as numbers. This supports a multi-sensory approach to learning. Cost: €5.49 Rating: 4.5/5 |
Comprehension Builder Free
Available from: Android Store Description: Children can learn sentence building skills using this interactive app. The free version allows you to focus on verbs and what questions, while the full version allows you to focus on other question types. Cost: Free/€7.99 for bundle of apps Rating: 4/5 |
Ollie's Handwriting & Phonics
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app allows children to choose a letter and see how it is formed. They can then practise forming the lower and upper case of each letter. Cost: Free/€3.49 Rating: 4/5 |
Little Story Creator
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a lovely app which allows you to create story books based on any topic. Some backgrounds, emojis, stickers and pictures come preloaded and there is also the option to import your own photographs or images from the internet. Then you can enter text or write freehand over the images. As well as this, you can record your voice over the story to make a talking book and you can also add videos that are up to 30 seconds long. This app has endless uses and is suitable for all ages. Cost: Free/€0.99 Rating: 4.5/5 |
Little Writer-The Tracing App for Kids
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app allows children to practise upper and lower case letter formation, number formation and tracing. The Shapes game could be used as a pre-writing activity with Junior Infants. The letters/numbers appear at random in the game, however in the Settings menu you can customise which letters and numbers appear so you could chose to turn on only the letters that you are working on for that week/term etc. This app uses the letter names rather than sounds which is the only downside. Cost: Free/€1.09 Rating: 4/5 |
Writing Wizard for Kids
Available from: Apple App Store and Android Stores Description: This fun app has lots of pre-writing activities and allows children to learn how to form upper and lower case letters as well as numbers. A great feature of this app is that you can add your own words so children could use this app to learn how to write their name and other key words. You can also create an unlimited number of user logins which will track the progress of each student in your class. The app offers a variety of fonts including the Jolly Phonics and Handwriting Without Tears fonts. Cost: €5.49 (iOS) and €17.99 (Android) Rating: 4.5/5 
Dexteria Junior
Available from: Apple App Store Description: The Dexteria family of apps have been specially created to aid children with developing their dexterity and fine motor skills. Three activities-Pinch the Pepper, Squish the Squash and Trace & Erase allow children to develop their finger control, finger isolation, finger strength, finger manipulation, pincher grasp, wrist flexion and hand co-ordination. The activities get progressively more difficult and it tracks a child's progress along the way. Cost: €4.49 Rating: 5/5 |
abc Pocket Phonics (Basic)
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a great app which allows your students to develop their knowledge of letters and sounds including letter formation, segmenting and blending and word building. This app follows the Jolly Phonics teaching sequence. The Lite version allows you to have one user account, while the paid version allows you to add multiple users. Cost: Free/€6.99 Rating: 4.5/5 |
Oral Language
Little Finder
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is fantastic for vocabulary development and could be used with students in Junior and Senior Infants. It is fun, easy to use and child-friendly. Cost: Free Rating: 4.5/5 |
TeleStory
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is an amazing app which I cannot recommend enough. It can be used for a variety of different purposes and across all class levels. Children can choose to be a TV Reporter, Weather Presenter, Spy and more and can create and record their own TV clip. Children can choose from a variety of fun backgrounds and costumes and can read from pre-loaded prompt cards which can also be edited to suit the topic where necessary. This app could be used to share Weekend News in Infants, explore weather in English and Gaeilge and it could be used for Hot Seating and Role Play in Drama also. Cost: Free Rating: 5/5 |
Rory's Story Cubes
Available from: Apple App Store and Android Store Description: This is a great app based on the popular story starter dice. Simply shake your device to start a story! This can be used for Oral Language and writing prompts for any age group. The app comes with Original and Actions sets of cubes. More cube types are available through in-app purchases e.g. voyages. Cost: €2.29 Rating: 4.5/5 |
Action Words
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app allows students to learn and identify different verbs by choosing the image that matches the chosen verb. This app can be customised to include images and verbs that aren't already on the app. Cost: €0.99 Rating: 4.5/5 |
Vocabulary Builder 1
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a super app which allows children to develop vocabulary associated with body parts. Cost: Free Rating: 4.5/5 |
|