This presence of new technology such as iPads often splits opinion amongst those in education, with some decidedly staunch supporters and others generally far more sceptical.

However, with the increasing number of high quality apps that are being designed with the classroom solely in mind, there seems little reason not to embrace these classroom aids and use them to the advantage of both teachers and pupils.

It is widely acknowledged that iPads cannot be used as a tool to teach new concepts, but rather as a tool for pupils to cement their understanding of the content taught, whilst also introducing pupils to new ways of building their learning and knowledge in a variety of innovative ways.

To use them to their best advantage, iPads should be used alongside existing classroom resources such as textbooks and exercise books.

With this is mind, we have created a list of apps to be used in primary classrooms. These apps have been split into key stages to give a broad suggestion of the age ranges these apps are best suited for.

 Apps for EYFS

Counting With the Very Hungry Caterpillar   £1.49

This app introduces the fundamentals of numbers and counting with the infamous Hungry Caterpillar! With five levels of increasing difficulty, the app keeps children engaged in a variety of activities and encourages a number of different skills to practice.

Things That Go Together    £0.69

An interactive tool designed to help children enhance both their problem solving and language development skills through the use of over 200 pictures, in which children are given items that they have to decide which go together.  Critical thinking skills can also be improved if you get the child to explain why it is that they have put the two items together. A really fun and engaging app!

Doodle Buddy  Free

Doodle Buddy can be used by anyone, and is suitable for any age, but is especially good for children at this stage. It allows children to finger paint with hundreds of colours at their disposal, but without the mess! With a shake of the iPad, doodles can be erased and started again. The app is also good for practising letter formation and spelling.

Toca Kitchen Monsters  Free

Toca Kitchen Monsters is a great tool for exploring different foods and cooking with children. The app supports free play meaning pupils are free to use their imagination to engage with the app rather than focusing on scores or time limits. It’s also a really good way to test listening and conversational skills with pupils.

My First Numbers Counting Game  Free

Another app to aid learning first numbers. Children can become familiar with counting fingers, quantities ( e.g. 5 apples) and their first numbers. It uses flashcards games to aid this, which can be made to include personal voices and pictures. Particularly good is its ability to combine multiple senses within the application; audio, voice and written words.

abc Pocket Phonics  £1.99

This app is aimed at children from ages 3-6, and introduces them to each of the key letter sounds.

The app then guides them how to write each letter through a follow-me arrow, highlighting how to correctly form letters. A fun and engaging app that really aids the teaching of phonics.

Learn To Spell – Reception Class  £1.49

This is aimed at children in reception who are learning to spell. There are 10 levels of ten words, with two modes of training and testing.

In training mode the user is asked to spell a word which is displayed for a few seconds and then wiped clean with the blackboard eraser – correct spelling is rewarded with upbeat messages and various congratulations – and wrong answers are encouraged to try again.

The Spelling test will produce a high score and if the pass rate is reached the next level will be unlocked.

Key Stage One Apps

My Story-Book Maker for Kids   £1.49

This is a simple story maker and e book creator. It combines drawing, photos, voice and text, and is a really good tool for encouraging literacy and creativity amongst children. Their books can then be shared within the app or in iBooks. A perfect tool to fully engage pupils that are eager to create stories.

Sentence Builder  £3.99

An app designed to help pupils build grammatically correct sentences through 3 varying levels of play. Focus is placed on connector words that make up over 80% of the English language.

Math Board  £2.99

This app supports the learning of maths in classrooms and aids the understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems. There are a range of customisation options meaning varying needs and abilities of pupils can be applied, and quizzes can be set to add a fun element to the process.

Bluster  Free

Bluster develops vocabulary and word understanding in Key Stage 1 children through a series of engaging animated gameplay with sound effects. Children can play alone, work in team mode or against another pupil.

Chicktionary  Free

Chicktionary is a fun word game that requires children to rearrange chickens with letters to form words. Engaging and motivating, Chicktionary is an ideal tool for spelling reinforcement, and can be used on an individual basis or in a small group of pupils.

Writer’s Hat  Free

Writer’s Hat is the ideal tool to inspire pupils with their creative writing, oral literacy and imaginative thinking tasks. The Writer’s Hat app selects four basic elements of the story for idea generations; so an idea word for What, Where, Who and When will be provided.  If these words fail to provide inspiration, then four more can be selected.

Math Bingo  £0.69

A good app to supplement maths lessons, Math Bingo uses the popular bingo game to help children with mental arithmetic. It features five different game modes and three game difficulties. The objective of the game is to get a pattern of five Bingo Bugs in a row by correctly answering maths problems using addition, subtraction, division or multiplication. There is a leader board too which can help create some healthy competition amongst children.

Key Stage Two Apps

Exploriments: Electricity- Simple Circuits  £1.49

This app has been created to help pupils understand and learn how to design circuit arrangements such as series, parallel and combination using batteries, wires and bulbs. There are a series of pre-designed learning circuits which are ideal for teachers to demonstrate in the classroom, which can then be followed by pupils trying out different variations of the circuit.

Number Line  Free

Number Line helps pupils to learn about fractions, decimals, and percents by ordering equivalent fractions, decimals, and percents on a number line. The app features multiple levels where the player must drag circles with either a percent, decimal or fraction onto a number line in the correct sequence.

Barefoot World Atlas  £2.99

An interactive atlas that invites children to explore the regions and countries of the world, with extensive information and facts on every country. Beautiful animations and graphics are featured throughout, and the atlas communicates how all parts of our world are interconnected and reveals some of the ideas and initiatives that are helping to shape a sustainable future.

Fun Science Lab  £1.99

The Fun Science Lab is a fun and entertaining way of teaching the basics of science to pupils through a series of 9 interactive experiments which feature themes such as heats, liquids, magnets and gravity. Every experiment has 3 levels, each of which increases in difficulty, and every completed level receives a medal, which encourages further engagement.

Operation Math  £1.99

Operation Math needs pupils to use a series of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills to make their way through a collection of 105 missions over three different skills levels. The engaging element of this app means that children get to practice their maths skills whilst having fun at the same time.

Book Creator  £2.99

This simple app lets pupils create their own books read them in iBooks, send them to their friends and family and submit them to the iBookstore too. Each page can include photos and videos, and as much text as they can fit on! Narration can be added to the book, with a facility to record voices on each page. This tool encourages children to enjoy creating stories and sharing their personalised stories with their peers.

We’d love to hear if you have used any of these apps above; do you have any particular favourites with your pupils? Equally we’d love to know of any other apps you may be using that we could add to our list, please just leave a comment below.

Our Top iPad Apps for Primary Classrooms

The study which tracked 430 kids from early years age to 21 year olds makes the recommendation that pressure should be taken off children to learn maths and their ABCs, and instead the attention should be focused on helping them persist in difficult tasks and build perseverance.

The study by Oregon State University showed that the children most likely to go on to further education were the ones who persisted in tasks and paid the most attention in early years sessions not the ones who were attending piano lessons and being forced to read books.

For some, this might come as quite the relief as the parental competitiveness hots up to encourage children in participating in early classical music lessons and academia. Instead, the study advises that it may be better to teach simple social skills such as paying attention, how to follow directions and not giving up on more difficult tasks.

Those involved in the study were assessed in literature and maths as seven year olds and again as 21 year olds. Those who had been four year olds with a lot of persistence and a good attention span became the adults more likely to end up with a university degree.

Child development expert Dr. Megan McClelland said, “The earlier that educators and parents can intervene, the more likely a child can succeed academically. The important factor was being able to focus and persist. Someone can be brilliant, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they can focus when they need to and finish a task or job.”

Is Teaching Toddlers to Pay Attention the Key to Academic Success?

Over 1,000 responses were received from schools with libraries for the SLA survey. The survey was undertaken after anecdotal reports of the effect of recent educational and economic changes on school libraries.

Key Entitlements

The report highlighted the key entitlements that a school library can fulfil for young people and children.

The survey showed that the resources a school library should offer include:

• A skilled library practitioner with the resource, knowledge and time to help and inform young people and assist them in developing the literacy skills relevant for today’s world and market place. This should include digital literacy, information literacy, and oral literacy, reading literacy, numeracy and skills for personal knowledge building.High quality, wide ranging classroom and library resources that will support the curriculum with easy access for students.
• A safe environment for young people to seek school library books, resources and advice both inside and outside of school hours.
• An environment where children are encouraged to be valued as individuals through access to books that will support them emotionally, culturally and leisurely.

Of course the report is realistic about how these terms can be achieved and the SLA understands the many obstacles that face schools when aiming to achieve these results. Notably budgets were the biggest challenge and research showed that some schools have as little as 62p per pupil. The Booktrust survey of 2007 recommended that secondary schools ought to spend £14 per pupil on library books, but of course, 92% of schools are unable to meet this amount of money.

The library support staff that were featured in the SLA survey had comments that showed librarians, a lot like teachers, feel that they are underpaid and overworked and do not have the time, resources or budgets to fully support children in their learning. One comment from a member of staff reflected the fact that the library has no status within most schools and also no support and that most libraries maintain their budgets merely because no one cares enough to take a closer look at it. It`s definitely bitter sweet.

School Library Association Director, Tricia Adams, concluded the report by saying; “The SLA is committed to supporting everyone involved with school libraries, promoting high quality reading and learning opportunities for all.  The results of this survey seem to indicate that there is less and less of a high quality service being provided for our students.  Without the skills and pleasures that reading and researching can give us we will have a cohort of students lacking essential life and work skills.”

Recommended Steps

The following steps were recommended to ensure that all school goers have equal access to the benefits a school library is likely to offer its students. Of course just as the SLA understood the different needs of different schools, and the different obstacles, it also understood that the solution for each school would be different.

• Ofsted inspection of the role of school libraries in schools reading for pleasure and literacy policies
• Schools Library Services offering more Librarian-based advice and support services into Primary Schools to support staff there
• Government support for trained school librarians in secondary schools as a first step towards trained librarians in all schools
• Exploration of co-location and facility sharing options between public and school libraries, groups of schools or clusters
• Ofsted inspection of the library role in whole school curriculum support

Whether these guidelines can be maintained remains to be seen, but the positive effect of libraries and their support staff on school goers cannot be denied. The promotion of high quality reading and learning opportunities is important and is at the heart of The School Library Association.

The SLA is a registered charity that was formed 75 years ago to support everyone involved in school libraries.

The SLA Survey – School Libraries in 2012

Taylor who wrote the Vampyre Labyrinth series which tells the story of vampires in Yorkshire during World War 2 recently said he thinks children’s literature “has gone too far”!

Now, we might beg to wonder given the subject of his own novels, but this comment follows reviews of his vampire trilogy that said they were the most frightening pieces of literature that had ever been written for kids. This he says, is what has left him wanting to change direction; aiming for stories of adventure and challenge, rather than horror.

Funnily enough it was the writing of children that inspired Taylor for his Vampyre Labyrinth series. He visited schools to see what kids were interested in reading and found them quite obsessed with the darker side of literature.

You won’t be surprised to hear that as soon as Taylor’s comments hit the press, many authors and literary figures jumped to the defence of darker novels and revoked the idea of a grading system as a guideline to teachers and parents, which Taylor had recommended would be a good idea.

Carnegie award winner Patrick Ness thinks it would be irresponsible to ignore the intrigue in the darker side of life that so many young people are drawn to, stating that, “Teenagers look at this darkness all the time, and I always think if you’re not addressing it in your fiction then you’re abandoning them to face it themselves.”

This is an interesting topic for debate and another point that is well made is the appeal of information that is not allowed. Perhaps when parents and teacher’s heads are turned, teenagers will read books certified 18 regardless. What do you think? Please let us know your thoughts below!

Is Children’s Literature Too Frightening?

They plan to offer at least 100,000 children one on one and group catch up lessons as one of the many initiatives aimed at sparing more children from falling behind as they reach secondary school.

As figures stand right now, approximately one is six pupils does not have basic reading skills once they leave primary school and move on to secondary school, and a further quarter of 11 year olds struggle to write appropriately for their age.

These new education plans coincide with the Government’s 2013 introduction of the back-to-basics writing exam which will be given to all 11 year olds in order to test their vocabulary, spelling, grammar and punctuation. Ministers think this test will make it easier for teachers to identify who in their care will require further tuition which might also include pupils being expected to attend lessons during their summer holidays.

£10m will be invested in a new programme aimed at raising educational standards and this will include the one on one tutoring sessions and small catch up classes aimed at helping children and teenagers get ahead in their school reading.

There is also talk that parents may receive vouchers which they can then spend on extra tuition outside of school, although this is still in negotiation.

The new scheme is run by the Education Endowment Fund – a Government-funded programme and is another project managed by the Sutton Trust charity; who works towards narrowing the gap between rich and poor children. It is thought that bids will come from schools, local councils, charities and other organisations running literacy programmes.

One to One Literacy Tuition to be Given to Children

The app is being promoted by children’s charity, Plan UK and is called Education for Girls. The app asks users how many of a 50 strong list of classic children’s books they have read and then goes on to ask the user to make a donation of £3. This donation will buy them a virtual book but is also the amount it costs Plan UK to send one girl to school for a week in Sierra Leone.

Unfortunately across the globe, one in three young girls in poor developing countries is unable to access public education and over 80 million young women aged between 15 and 24 will not have basic reading and writing skills which some see as a human right.

Award winning author, Boyne, described his childhood favourite Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson as a “great adventure story and one of the best coming-of-age novels ever written; the Jim who has outwitted the pirates at the end of the novel is a very different Jim to the shy boy of the opening pages.”

Another author and philosopher, AC Grayling cited Swiss Family Robinson as his personal favourite children’s classic.

For those who wish to support the app and make a donation, it can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/planuk. Download it and be enveloped in wonderful nostalgia as you go through and mark which classics you have read and enjoyed! By contributing to sending a girl to school you are in turn participating in helping young women out of poverty and into a future with some opportunity.

Education For Girls App Backed By Plan UK and UK Authors.

Included in the survey were 400 teachers, three quarters of who when surveyed, indicated that attention spans of pupils were shorter than in the past.

Alarmingly, 94% of the teachers questioned felt that children were not spending enough time reading for pleasure.

Reading for Pleasure

Many literacy experts acknowledge that reading for pleasure and developing a love of books, is one of the pivotal ways in helping a child to read and write well, and introducing books to children at a young age can be very beneficial.

The survey suggested that one fifth of the parents waited till their child was at least two years old before they read to them; however, experts agree that even the youngest children enjoy looking at simple books. Hearing sounds of words and rhymes whilst being explained what is going on in the story, helps create an understanding of the meaning of words and aids speech and language development.

How Time’s Spent

Parents with children at primary school or younger claimed their children were spending three times as much as much time “on screen” than reading books, and on average their children are watching TV for 90 minutes, computer games for 42 minutes and various online activities for 28 minutes.

It cannot be denied that it is becoming significantly more difficult for both parents and children,  who face increasing demands on their attention, however it remains essential that children are encouraged to develop a love of reading from an early age, so as to ensure the very best opportunities in developing both their reading and writing skills.

Our Collections

To support the development of literacy of young children, we have an extensive early years books collection, which supports a child’s physical development, first concepts and stimulation.

Please let us know your thoughts on our collection, and let us know if there are any favourite stories!

A Fall in Bedtime Stories

The data published by the Department for Education is causing concern with many believing that schools are using the special needs label to dispute poor exam results. In the other corner, many parents and teachers believe that boys learn differently and are meant to learn ‘on the go’ rather than trapped behind a sedentary desk.

Either way it is discouraging to note that the study found that boys are much less likely to pass primary school tests in the three-Rs or go on to gain good GCSE grades.

Compared to girls who have a much less chance of developing special needs – figures indicated that just 13 per cent of girls – 268,675 – had problems that would affect their ability to participate fully in school life, whilst 23.8 per cent of boys – 510,985 – were diagnosed with some form of special needs in this current academic year. Although this is one percent down on last year’s results, it still makes for troubling reading.

The same research showed that more and more very young children are being diagnosed with difficulties and that 173,525 children aged just five or under had problems which went on to require specific attention from teachers. It definitely asks the questions whether the increase in technology is undermining the learning experience and whether the short attention span and inability to focus comes from our new obsession with the internet and gaming? However that does not answer the question as to why more boys than girls are facing these difficulties in the classroom.

Many people are dubious about the results, and rigorous screening measures are now being introduced to prevent pupils from being termed special needs and requiring special needs resources when really they have just fallen behind or are disruptive in class.

Boys Twice as Likely to be Diagnosed with Special Needs

The authors argue that there is no evidence to support the fact that ‘systematic synthetic phonics training’ improves the reading level of children and if this policy for constant testing is pursued, little practical school time will be available for developing natural skills reading and writing so children can naturally progress. The authors want a return to what they call more “mixed methods” of reading methods such as basic phonics instruction and the use of real books in the classroom.

However, Nigel Hilton, deputy chair of the English Spelling Society  argues that it is the English language itself that puts undue pressure on young readers rather than particular methods of teaching. Hilton states that until our ‘antique and irregular’ spelling system is addressed and modified, children throughout the UK will continue to fail to read and write to a sufficient standard – setting themselves up for failure for years to come.

Whatever the approach, all agree that something has to be done to tackle the rate of illiteracy in this country before it’s too late. International studies rank the UK at 25^th in the world (significantly down from 7^th place just 9 years ago). How this is addressed will continue to rage amongst academics, Government ministers and those who write and teach children for many more years to come.

Authors Fight New Government Reading Recommendations

We hope you enjoy looking through the books and we’d love to hear any comments you have – or if your favourite is missing!

Alternate Timeline (for Internet Explorer 8 and below)

A Short History of Popular Children’s Books

We’re going to take a journey through time to see when some of our best-loved children’s books were first published. We’ve selected 20 books that children and adults should remember fondly. It might surprise you to learn how old some of them are…

1865 - Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland

A book that needs no introduction, a literary classic. Alice’s Adventures are full of genuine excitement, invention and oddity. Characters such as the Cheshire Cat, the Queen and the Hatter have become famous beyond the book, with the former and the latter entering into common usage in the English language.

1902 - The Tale Of Peter Rabbit

The story of a sometimes naughty (but loveable) Rabbit named Peter was created by Beatrix Potter in 1893, first published in 1902. The book was unusual because most books of the time featured a predominately ‘good’ character as the lead, whereas Peter is endlessly getting into trouble.

1908 - The Wind in the Willows

Set in England and written by Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows is a famous tale following Ratty, Badger, Mole and Toad as they play by the river and become embroiled in elaborate, and sometimes daring, adventures. It has been issued in more than 100 editions worldwide and still sells hundreds of thousands of copies each year.

1911 – Peter Pan

A classic swashbuckling tale by J.M. Barrie featuring the Darling children and the world of Neverland. Another book probably more well known by the younger audience in Disney film or cartoon form. Although it was written over 100 years ago it still ranks amongst the finest children’s stories available.

1926 - Winnie-The-Pooh

Written by AA Milne and first published in 1926, Winnie-The-Pooh has become a children’s classic, even though the language may be a little dated. Many of today’s children will know Winnie and friends from the Disney films, although the books are still readily available in bookshops – as well as original copies tucked away in lofts, bedrooms and garages.

1943 - The Faraway Tree

Enid Blyton’s charming and somewhat silly series of books about unusual characters who live up a magical tree. Published back in World War II, the books must have offered a welcome escape to children of the day. Republished repeatedly since the end of the war, children of future generations have continued to smile along with Moon-face, the Saucepan Man and Mr Watzisname.

1946 – Thomas The Tank Engine

Based around Rev W Awdry Egmont’s own childhood love of steam engines, the Thomas The Tank Engine series is going strong today almost 60 years after the first book was published. Often featuring a naughty or mischievous train (mostly Thomas!) the books aimed to teach children how to be good and learn from their mistakes.

1958 - A Bear Called Paddington

Written by Michael Bond and inspired by a lonely Teddy Bear in a shop, Paddington has become one of the best-loved bears in the World. His old leather suitcase, marmalade sandwiches and duffle coat all add to his appeal – children love to read about his adventures which often end in mishaps or trouble!

1963 - Where The Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are is a 1963 children’s picture book by American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak, originally published by Harper & Row. The book has been adapted into other media several times, including an animated short in 1973

1964 – Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

Probably author Roald Dahl’s most famous children’s book, Charlie’s adventures in the chocolate factory are well loved by children and adults alike. The book focuses on Charlie Bucket who wins a Golden ticket to tour Willy Wonka’s secretive chocolate factory.Roald Dahl extended the story with ‘Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator’.

1968 - The Tiger Who Came To Tea

A short story written and illustrated by Judith Kerr, The Tiger Who Came To Tea is a gentle tale about a girl and her mother. A Tiger decides to pop in for tea, he eats all the food and drinks all the tea. Sophie, the little girl, is even left without any water for a bath such is the thirst of the Tiger. The next day they buy a tin of Tiger food but the Tiger doesn’t return.

1969 – The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The book follows a caterpillar as it eats its way through a wide variety of foodstuffs before pupating and emerging as a butterfly. The winner of many children’s literature awards and a major graphic design award, it has sold 30 million copies worldwide.

1971 - Mr. Men

A series of books by Roger Hargreaves all based around simplistic characters with one defining feature. One tickles, another is greedy but they’re all enjoyable to read about. The stories themselves are written simply, Roger manages to fit a lot of content into each page which is why they might be suited to slightly older children even though the simply drawn characters might attract younger eyes.

1975 – Meg And Mog

Written by Helen Nicoll with illustrations by Jan Pienkowski, these books still have appeal today and are great for developing a child’s vocabulary. The series features 17 books which all usually centred around Meg’s spells going wrong. The series eventually made its way onto the small screen with 52 episodes, each 5 minutes long, being aired from 2003.

1982 - Dear Zoo

A short book with interactive flaps which reveal different animals, all sent by ‘The Zoo’ to a unseen narrator, presumably a child. The story doesn’t seem to age, maybe due to its simplistic nature and genuinely clever interactivity. Rod Campbell used this style of lift up flap in subsequent books including ‘Oh Dear’.

1993 - We’re Going On A Bear Hunt

A timeless classic written by Michael Rosen with illustrations by Helen Oxenbury. The book follows a family’s trip to find a bear, it takes them through rivers, mud, grasses and a forest. Ideal for children from 3 upwards and enjoyed by all who read it, a deserved winner of the Smarties Prize.

1994 - Guess How Much I Love You

Selling more than 20 million copies worldwide and published in 37 languages is a good sign that a book’s loved. Only written in 1994, the popular story of two hares and their love for each other. A range of toys, prints and accessories have been very successful since their introduction in the mid ’00s.

1999 - The Gruffalo

A modern classic that’s spawned toys, lunchboxes, clothes and made famous the author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler. A clever mouse defends himself from bigger animals with the story of a fictional character ‘The Gruffalo’. Later he discovers he actually exists and has to use his quick mind to escape him. The use of rhymes on each page helps to keep children engaged with the story.

135 Years

That’s how long separates the first book on our list, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, and our last book, The Gruffalo. It’s no coincidence that they’re both scary in places, full of exciting and loveable characters and have happy endings.

Remember, if you’ve got a favourite from our 20 books then please feel free to comment below, we’d love to hear your views. The Pandora Books Team

A Short History of 20 Top Children’s Books (Timeline)