The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their picks for Best Apps for Teaching & Learning 2019. “Apps recognized foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration and are user friendly to encourage a community of learners to explore and discover. “

This app looks so cool, I’m going to give it a try during storytime!

“Novel Effect uses voice recognition to complement read alouds with sound effects and music. Novel Effect features a catalog of over 200 popular and well-loved titles for children, with new titles regularly being added. Parents, teachers, and librarians can use it to spice up their read alouds or revisit old favorites by adding a new soundscape. Students can practice their reading fluency as the app responds to their voice.”

Platform: iOS
Cost: FREE
Grades: All

The Novel Effect site has this page for educators that includes several ideas for using the app in the classroom. This article from the Techie Teacher gets in-depth with using the app and includes a video and a downloadable checklist. This post from Tech Notes shares several of the available titles on the app and also offers suggestions for classroom use.

Watch this 1 min video to see the app in action:

If you are interested in the best apps for your library, media center, or classroom, you can read our 2019 series here or find all past apps discussed in our archives.