Below is a collection of some good iPad apps to use with your middle school students. These are apps to help students enhance their writing skills and improve their grasp of language. Some of the things they can do with these apps include: access tons of creative writing prompts, use pre-made story templates to organize and plan stories, use Story Builder to improve paragraph formation and integration of ideas, create ‘found poetry’ by selecting from word banks and existing popular works… and many more. Links to the apps are under the visual.
1- Shake-a-Phrase
‘Shake-a-Phrase is a fun language app for creative writing prompts, vocabulary, and parts of speech practice. Perfect for learning and laughing in the classroom or on-the-go, it features over 2,000 words and definitions in 5 engaging themes for ages 8+.’
2- Writing Prompts
‘Our writing prompt generators use current events, scene elements, words, sketches, colors, genres and writing types, unleashing endless random bits of fantasy to fuel your muse. Plus, we’ve included our database of 600 creative writing prompts so you’ve got them right at your finger tips, online or off!’
3- Story Planner
‘The outline is one of the most powerful weapons for a writer. Now you can easily outline your stories wherever you are thanks to Story Planner, the best story-mapping and organizational stories tool ever.’
4- StoryBuilder
‘Story Builder is designed to help children accomplish the following educational goals: 1) Improve paragraph formation; 2) Improve integration of ideas; and 3) Improve higher level abstractions by inference. Extensive use of audio clips promotes improved auditory processing for special needs children with autism spectrum disorders or sensory processing disorders.’
5- Writing Prompts for Kids
‘Boost students’ creative writing skills with writing prompts that will spark their imaginations. This writing prompt generator is quick and easy to use; your students will have an inspiring writing topic in seconds. Just tap the screen to pick a situation, a character, a setting, and an object.’
6- iTooch 8th Grade
‘With more than 1,590 exercises, iTooch 8th Grade Language Arts is a new and fun way of practicing and learning Language Arts for 8th Graders. It is, by far, the largest collection of educational activities based on the US National Common Core Standards on the App Store.’
7- Word Mover
‘Word Mover allows children and teens to create “found poetry” by choosing from word banks and existing famous works; additionally, users can add new words to create a piece of poetry by moving/manipulating the text.’
8- Book Creator
‘Book Creator is the simple way to make your own beautiful ebooks, right on your iPad. With over 30 million ebooks created so far, Book Creator is ideal for making all kinds of books, including children’s picture books, comic books, photo books, journals, textbooks and more.’
9- Write About This
‘Endless student engagement with 175 included images, 375 text+voice prompts, OR customize with your own pictures. Kick-start all writing genres and watch reluctant writers soar! Write About This is a creation platform trusted on millions of classroom devices to gets kids writing!’
