The iPad is above and beyond the most sought after item for tech lovers, as it’s the go to place for all things internet, music, movies, and pictures. But more and more, parents are quickly realizing that the iPad can be utilized as a valuable teaching tool for their children, and its mobility means it can go anywhere a child does. Amidst some of the the silly, useless apps out there are some that can make the difference in your child’s learning and vocabulary development. Here are our top iPad app picks for Elementary school learning by grade, from www.Education.com:

Kindergarten

• Rock ‘n Learn Phonics Easy Reader 1: Three phonics stories are featured in this comprehensive app, which is meant to teach your child to read from the ground up. Each one has strong visuals to support the text on the screen. The story can be read to your child, or your child can try to sound the words out himself, and get help by clicking on the word. ($4.99)
• Piggy HD Math: This is a counting game, an adding game, and a fun-filled game all in one. Simple addition problems are included, as well as an activity that matches numerals to their written numbers. ($3.99)

First Grade

• Super Why!: This includes four interactive games, each one featuring a different character from the popular PBS kids show, “Super Why!”. Games feature letter hunts, rhyming words from a group and selecting the correct word missing from a sentence. ($2.99)
• Addition UnderSea Adventures: This colorful and visually stimulating app will dazzle your child as he explores the underwater world with math. Puzzles increase in difficulty, each with a new scene to reveal. (FREE)

Second Grade

• Sight Words Second Grade: Help your child practice his sight words with this top-to-bottom reading and spelling app. Four separate lists of sight words help bring the repetition and familiarity your child needs when it comes to recognizing these common words while reading. He’ll ace his spelling tests with the help of this fun phonics app. ($0.99)
• Princess Math: What could be better than princess math? This fit-for-a-queen app is a great way to get your princess interested in math. The girl-friendly art and characters help keep the interest of girls who might be struggling in math. Addition and subtraction problems can be used for students up to the third grade. ($2.99)

Third Grade

• K12 Timed Reading Practice: Your child will practice his reading skills and improve his fluency with this fun phonics app. The app includes 250 stories, both fiction and nonfiction. Your child reads the words on the screen, just as if he is reading a book. The app tracks the words per minute by timing the reading. The results can also list the percentile that your child is reading above or below his grade level so you can get a sense of where your child really stands with his reading skills. ($1.99)
• Multiplication and Division Flash Action: This game is one of many by School Zone Publishing, makers of popular workbooks for children. This app helps your child beat the clock with quick answers to multiplication and division problems. Activities include vertical or horizontal presentations of equations, as well as multiplication and division charts. Games can be played with multi-player settings to get the whole family involved. ($4.99)

Fourth Grade

• Word Search for iPad—Young Reader’s Edition: What better way to learn spelling than to search for hidden words puzzle? Word searches include commonly-taught words that kids
  will need in subjects such as Social Studies and Language Arts. For example, your child can find the names of U.S. states and capital cities or adjectives and verbs that are commonly used in reading. Word searches jump off the page when they’re on an iPad. ($0.99)
• Match-Up Math: This matching game allows children to match up problems with equal answers on a touch-and-drag tile board. In addition to the traditional addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems, the games include fractions, percents, and decimals. Your child will match his way to math success. ($2.99)

Fifth Grade

• Grammar Prep – Subjects and Verbs: World-renowned educators, Pearson Education, created this comprehensive grammar app to help your child practice subject and verb agreement. Multiple-choice quizzes grade students and become increasingly difficult with each passing level. This series also includes apps for practicing sentence fragments, run-on sentences, comma splices, and the use of commas, pronouns, and modifiers. ($3.99)
• MathBoard: This app can be used for all grades, as the levels of this mesmerizing math game can be adjusted from very simple to more complex. It includes square roots, cubes, and squares as well as more basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems. Multiple-choice problems make the game a good way to study for standardized tests, and many of the wrong answer choices are answers that are common mistakes. The correct and incorrect answers to each quiz help to create the most suitable answers for the next quiz. ($3.99)

In addition to reading and math, there are many games that teach other skills, such as art, counting money, and even learning a foreign language. Explore and enjoy! Your child (and his report card) will thank you for it.

I’ve found some great literacy apps and  math apps for your elementary schooler too.