Grammar
Bluster!
Available from: Apple App Store Description: Bluster is a super app which can be used to develop children's knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. The app focuses on rhyming words, prefixes and suffixes, synonyms, word roots, homophones and comparative adjectives. Each game involves choosing three words to match the brief given. Students can play on their own in Single mode, or can choose Team mode or Versus. Versus is a fun way to consolidate learning as students can play against one another at the same time due to the split screen display. Weather "blusters" like tornadoes and blizzards can be used to slow down your opponent as part of the game. This app is suitable for use from 1st to 6th Class. Cost: Free Rating: 5/5 |
Double Letter Match
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is part of a series of apps for teaching grammar from Winning Words. This is basically a matching game where you need to turn over tiles to make words containing double letters. This game can be customised by choosing to play with up to 4 players (by passing the iPad around), selecting up to 24 tiles to play with and choosing from 3 different difficulty levels. Cost: Free Rating: 5/5 |
Singular and Plural Match
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is part of a series of apps for teaching grammar from Winning Words. This is basically a matching game where you need to turn over tiles to match the singular and plural form of different words. This game can be customised by choosing to play with up to 4 players (by passing the iPad around), selecting up to 24 tiles to play with and choosing from 3 different difficulty levels. Cost: Free Rating: 5/5 |
Compound Word Match
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is part of a series of apps for teaching grammar from Winning Words. This is basically a matching game where you need to turn over tiles to find a matching pair of words to make a compound word. This game can be customised by choosing to play with up to 4 players (by passing the iPad around), selecting up to 24 tiles to play with and choosing from 3 different difficulty levels. Cost: Free Rating: 5/5 |
Homophone Match
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is part of a series of apps for teaching grammar from Winning Words. This is basically a matching game where you need to turn over tiles to find a matching pair of words which sound the game but have different meanings. This game can be customised by choosing to play with up to 4 players (by passing the iPad around), selecting up to 24 tiles to play with and choosing from 3 different difficulty levels. Cost: Free Rating: 5/5 |
Antonym Match
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is part of a series of apps for teaching grammar from Winning Words. This is basically a matching game where you need to turn over tiles to find a matching pair of words which are opposites. This game can be customised by choosing to play with up to 4 players (by passing the iPad around), selecting up to 24 tiles to play with and choosing from 3 different difficulty levels. Cost: Free Rating: 5/5 |
Synonym Match
Available from: Apple App Store
Description:
This app is part of a series of apps for teaching grammar from Winning Words. This is basically a matching game where you need to turn over tiles to find a matching pair of words with the same meaning. This game can be customised by choosing to play with up to 4 players (by passing the iPad around), selecting up to 24 tiles to play with and choosing from 3 different difficulty levels.
Cost: Free
Rating: 5/5
Available from: Apple App Store
Description:
This app is part of a series of apps for teaching grammar from Winning Words. This is basically a matching game where you need to turn over tiles to find a matching pair of words with the same meaning. This game can be customised by choosing to play with up to 4 players (by passing the iPad around), selecting up to 24 tiles to play with and choosing from 3 different difficulty levels.
Cost: Free
Rating: 5/5
Spelling
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: Free Rating: 4.5/5 
SpellFix Compound Words
Available from: Apple App Store and Android Store Description: SpellFix Compound Words is a great app for developing spelling skills as well as knowledge of compound words. Use the clues given to figure out what word you need to spell using the letter tiles that are provided. There are 30 levels which get progressively more difficult. This app is most suitable for children from 2nd to 6th Class. Cost: Free Rating: 4.5/5 |
SpellFix
Available from: Apple App Store and Android Store Description: This app develops spelling skills and vocabulary at the same time. SpellFix is a fun way of learning 240 of the some of the trickiest spellings in the English language. Use the clues given to figure out what word you need to spell using the letter tiles that are provided. There are 30 levels which get progressively more difficult. This app is most suitable for children from 3rd to 6th Class. Cost: Free Rating: 4.5/5 
A+ Spelling Test
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app can be used by classes from Senior Infants to 6th class so that students can learn their weekly spellings. Students, parents or teachers can input the weekly spellings and record themselves saying each word or a sentence containing the word. The app then creates different games using your spelling words including Practice, where your recording is played and you spell the word, Unscramble which is a word scramble game based on your spellings, Ace It and Test. There is also the option to review and correct any words that students have misspelled during the activities. Cost: Free Rating: 5/5 |
Dictionary.com
Available from: Apple App Store and Android Stores Description: The free version of this app is very useful in the classroom. Type in a word to find the definition and click on the speaker icon to hear how the word is pronounced. A simplified explanation of the word is available from the Learners tab at the bottom of the screen. Choose the Synonyms tab at the bottom of the screen to access the thesaurus function. This app also has a Word of the Day function which could be used introduce new vocabulary. This app would be most suitable for children from 2nd-6th class. Cost: Free Rating: 4.5/5 |
Eason Spelling Bee
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a challenging app with a variety of levels which students can work through to assess their spelling. Cost: Free Rating: 4.5/5 |
Spell Mania
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a great Boggle-style app which can be used by students from 1st-6th class. Connect the letters to form words and score more points for longer words. A nice feature of this app is that you can tap any word on screen to look it up in the dictionary and thesaurus. Cost: Free Rating: 4.5/5 |
Pop Words!
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is similar to Spell Mania and can be used by students from 1st-6th class. Once you connect the letters to form different words, the letters disappear and are replaced by new letters. Cost: Free Rating: 4/5 |
Reading
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/€12.99 Rating: 5/5 |
Collin's Big Cat Apps
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a series of 8 free apps based on titles from the Collin's Big Cat series. These are free ebooks which children can read to themselves. They can also listen to the story being read aloud. One of the most interesting features of this app is the 'Create a Story' feature which allows children to choose their own backgrounds, characters and props to make their own story. The children can then add text to make their own storybook or can record their voices also. Cost: Free Rating: 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 Rating: 5/5 
Inference Clues
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is fantastic for developing inference skills. The free version of the app allows children to access four levels (the full version contains 450 inference activities). Students are presented with a short text and must then answer multiple choice inference questions based on the text. This app would be suitable for children in 4th, 5th and 6th Class. Cost: Free/€2.99 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 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: €2.99 Rating: 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 250 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 
Sight Words by Little Speller
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app allows children to practise spelling sight words in a fun way. The sight words are grouped into different levels and you can add your own words also. The app uses letter names rather than sounds. Cost: Free Rating: 4/5 |
Inference Ace
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is fantastic for developing inference skills. The free version of the app allows children to access four levels (the full version contains 450 inference activities). Students are presented with a short text and must then answer multiple choice inference questions based on the text. This app would be suitable for children in 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class. Cost: Free/€2.99 Rating: 4.5/5 |
Writing
Word Clouds
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a word cloud generator which could be used for phonics or making displays for overused words. 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: €6.99 Rating: 4.5/5 |
The Gothic Story Machine
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is fantastic for inspiring students to write creatively. Use this app to spark your students' creativity and imagination. The app allows students to spin the Story Machine to find writing prompts for the story opening, main characters, setting, dilemmas, story ending etc. The story elements can be combined to make hundreds of different stories. This app would be perfect for writing Halloween stories with 3rd-6th Class. Cost: €1.99 Rating: 4.5/5 |
Comprehension Builder Free
Available from: Apple App Store and 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 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 Rating: 4.5/5 |
Write About This Free
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app contains over 100 writing prompts about different topics like adventures, family, feelings, culture and places. There are also seasonal images. Each image has a selection of three different levels of prompt and the level can be selected by clicking on Settings and then Prompt Level. Teachers or students can also create their own writing prompts by inserting text and images. Students can type their composition onto a copybook layout within the app. Cost: Free Rating: 4.5/5 |
abc Pocket Phonics
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 
Word Clouds
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is a word cloud creator which can be used from 1st-6th class across almost all subjects. It could be used to create word banks for different sounds in phonics, to describe a particular character from a story, to create a word bank for overused words such as "nice" and "went" etc., to assess a student's prior knowledge when beginning a new topic in SESE and for many other things. Simply type in the words and they are made into a word cloud. The 'randomise' button changes the layout and style of the word cloud. You also have the option to customise your word cloud by changing the colour, layout and font using the menu at the top of the screen. These word clouds could be screen-shotted and printed if you wish. Cost: Free Rating: 4.5/5 
News Booth
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This fun app can be used as a writing prompt for students from 1st to 6th Class. The teacher or students can insert a photograph or video and insert text to make it look like it is on a news programme. Students could have lots of fun with this app by writing about events that have happened in school or basing their News Booth creation on class novels or historical events. This app could also be used for exciting drama lessons. Cost: Free Rating: 4.5/5 |
Comic Life
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a fantastic app which students can use to make their own comic strips. Children can input their own photographs and turn these into a comic strip by adding speech bubbles and comic style lettering. This app could be used for creating or retelling stories, as well as writing recounts and sets of instructions. Cost: €4.99 Rating: 4.5/5 
The Superheroes Story Machine
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This app is fantastic for inspiring students to write exciting stories about Superheroes. Use this app to spark your students' creativity and imagination. The app allows students to spin the Story Machine to find writing prompts for the story opening, main characters, setting, objects, story ending etc. The story elements can be combined to make hundreds of different stories. This app would be perfect for writing Superhero stories with 3rd-6th Class. Cost: €1.49 Rating: 4.5/5 
Book Creator
Available from: Apple App Store Description: Create your own eBooks by inserting text, pictures and sounds. The free app allows you to create one eBook. The full version allows you to create an unlimited amount of books, comics and more. Cost: Free/€5.49 Rating: 5/5 |
Oral Language
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 
Collins Big Cat: It Was a Cold, Dark Night
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This gorgeous app could be used by Junior Infants to 2nd Class. It is based on the Collins Big Cat book called "It Was a Cold, Dark Night." It has three main uses: it can be listened to as an eBook, children can read the story to themselves or children can create their own story using images and characters associated with autumn. Junior and Senior Infants could create an autumnal scene and record their voice to tell their story, while 1st and 2nd Class students could add text to make their own story. There is also a built in word bank that children can use when writing their story. This is a great app to develop reading, writing and oral language skills. Cost: Free Rating: 5/5 |
Toontastic Jr. Pirates
Available from: Apple App Store Description: This is a fun app which allows children to create an animated story based on the theme of Pirates. Students choose a beginning, middle and end and can then extend the story by moving the characters, adding voices and recording the animation. Cost: Free Rating: 4/5 
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 
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: Free Rating: 4.5/5 |
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: €1.99 Rating: 4.5/5 |
Sleepy Cat Prepositions
Available from: Apple App Store and Android Store Description: This is a child-friendly app which teaches children about prepositions through a story about a sleepy cat. Children need to listen to the instructions and help Sleepy Cat to find a comfortable place to sleep. This app is suitable for children in Junior and Senior Infants. Rating: 4/5 |