5 Free Reading Apps for young Readers

Summer is a wonderful time for kids! They get to do so many fun activities, play with friends, go on trips and many more but as teachers, you don’t want your young students to forget all the progress they made during the year as readers. Nowadays, kids have a variety of ways to read – traditional books have become eBooks downloaded to their iPads, smart phones, laptops or Kindles. It is useful to encourage your students to continue reading throughout the summer by recommending some interesting and fun reading apps. Here is a list of 5 free apps to use:

1) LightSail is an e-reading literacy platform to help teachers support their students' independent reading. Using LightSail, students can check out texts from their schools' digital libraries and read the books directly on their devices. As students progress through a book, questions appear to gauge their comprehension. They can even earn badges along the way!

2) Bookster allows young readers to find new literary favourites with helpful narration from kids their age. Young students also get to learn new vocabulary words and can record themselves reading the books when they’ve finished! Can be used on iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android; and it is free with the first e-book.

3) Newsela is a free subscription based app for young readers to share news articles daily. Parents can participate too and it is a great way for families to include informational text on their summer reading list. The Newsela app has a variety of topics so kids are sure to find a topic to pique their interest.

4) OverDrive is a wonderful free app that connects to your library card. Many libraries across the country will let you access e-books through this app. You can bring your iPad into your local library branch and ask them about accessible ebooks.

5) Sesame Street eBooks for iPads is a free, subscription based app with over 100 titles for young readers. Well worth giving this a go and hooking the students on some fun summer reading!