Storybook Apps That Can Promote Speech & Language Skills Over The Summer (and beyond!) + GIVEAWAYS!

As I prepare for working ESY, I am trying to fill my iPad with fun and motivating activities that can address a variety of maintenance goals.  I have found some new and different apps that I think you will like!  I have even been provided with extra codes from the developers to give away to you!!

Play Tales Gold:
This is a free app on your iPad. It is kind of like your iBooks app but filled with interactive books for kids!  So easy to use too!  I was fortunate to be provided with a code for a free monthly subscription and have 1 more code to give away!  This way you can try before you buy!  Visit their website to learn more about the app and subscriptions!

How does this app work?

The app comes with sample stories on a "bookshelf."

I tried out the pirate story! Perfect for summer school themes!  The app can read the story to your students or your students can read them independently.  The stories are interactive.  Just touch the different images for responses!  Cause & effect woohoo!  You can turn the pages when ready which is great for asking questions for recall before moving on.

The app comes with activities (puzzles, find differences, and more) which relate to the stories.  Great for carryover and follow up activities!

The app also comes with coloring activities.  They have pages to color related to the story themes or students can free draw.  Great for recalling details and descriptions!

The app also has sing-along songs!!  They come in Spanish as well!

Other than the free sample stories, you can access stories related to categories or their top stories in their "store."  I was able to access several using my free trial.

One of my favorite stories I was able to access was ones which I could add a photo of myself, cartoon, or student into the story! How fun!!

What goals can be targeted with this app?

• Story recall and comprehension
• Compare/contrast
• Cause/effect
• Sequencing
• Answering questions
• Auditory bombardment of sounds or vocabulary concepts
• And more!

What else to know about this app?

• New books added every week
• 8 language available
• Designed for children up to 8 years old
• How to subscribe?  Once you have downloaded Gold Play Tales for free, just look inside the application and you will see various payment options and buttons for subscription activation.  Once payment is confirmed, you will see the status of your subscription in the INFO section.

Enter to win a code for a free month's subscription at the bottom of this post!

iStoryTime Library
This app is another form of "iBook" for kids.  It is a free app.   

It comes with 4  full length Read Aloud storybooks - The Giant Smurf, Madagascar, Ice Age and Robin Hood!

You can also purchase other books in this app if desired.

Oceanhouse Media, Inc
This company makes TONS of story book apps!!  They bring some popular titles/authors such as Dr. Seuss, Kissing Hand, and Berenstain Bears.  They provided me with 2 codes to try as well as 2 codes of each to give away!!

Byron Barton Collection #1:
This app has basic vocabulary based stories for the following themes: planes, trains, boats, and trucks.

What goals can be addressed with this cute storybook app:

• Prepositions: each story contains TONS of prepositions!  Can your students identify them in the story?!
• Answering questions
• Categorization: land/water/sky transportation!
• Sentence and story recall/comprehension
• Verbs (can your student locate them and determine the tense?)

The app uses colors while they "read" so students can follow along.  This is great for students learning to read!

Enter to win this app at the bottom of this blog post!  View the other Byron Barton apps HERE!  This app is $3.99!  Click HERE for it!

Just Me and My Cousin - Little Critter
Do your students love the Little Critter series?!  Did you know these stories are available for your iPad?!  Click HERE to view all of the different stories available including some free samples!  This app is available for $0.99 HERE!

This cute book is motivating and fun to listen/read!  What goals can be addressed?

• Story recall, sequencing, and comprehension
• Comparatives/superlatives
• Compare/contrast
• Character traits
• Key story elements
• Listen for parts of speech, categories, speech sounds, etc!
• Can use with Story Grammar Marker!

Enter to win this app BELOW!

Ideas for using storybook apps:

• Use your "screen shot" to take images of the book.  Print them out and have students sequence or retell the stories.  Use the images created with your screen shot to create your own follow-up worksheets or review vocabulary activities!
• Can your students guess what the stories will be about by the title/cover?
• Story Grammar Marker!  Use your manipulatives to have students retell the stories and recall the key elements: characters, setting, problem, solutions, and feelings!
• How will your students feel if they were the characters in the stories?!  How would they retell those versions?!  Use your target speech sounds, fluent speech, expanded sentences and more to retell those stories!
• Compare and contrast the different stories!  Use Venn diagrams and other graphic organizers to generate ideas!
• Can your students make their own connections to the stories?  Do they have cousins they play with?  Have they ever wanted to be a pirate?  Elicit conversations that are packed with common core skills!

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