Oh no, the kids are going back to school and won’t be hanging around in the background of all my work calls. Whatever will I do? Ok, I’m over it. Whether your in-house wallet-drainers and lovely offspring that inherited your most annoying traits are off to college, back to school, the wide world of work, or home-schooled (better you than me), Apple iPads are widely used as more than a summertime distraction. They are one of the most useful and versatile devices that provide the tools and a distinct advantage when it comes to schoolwork, university coursework, projects, communication and collaboration platforms, and, yes, entertainment.

Along with the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil, an iPad is a full workstation. It’s a tablet, a powerful laptop, an artist’s creative outlet, a way to connect wherever you are.

When I went to off to college, I loaded up my Dad’s car with my full-sized computer, huge box of a TV, and physical CDs and VHS tapes. We didn’t even have the internet in our dorms! Now every individual device and fit in the slim pocket at the back of a rucksack. Conclusion – I’m old, and iPads are cool. So, on with the article.

The Ultimate Guide to the Best iPad Back-to-School Apps for Grades 1-10

As the back-to-school season approaches, it’s time to gear up with the best tools to make learning fun and efficient, and the iPad is a powerhouse of knowledge and creativity with the wide range of educational apps available. 

Here’s a breakdown of the top-reviewed, most useful, and most popular apps for students from grades 1 to 10. 

If you’re looking for THE 15 BEST IPAD APPS TO USE WITH THE APPLE PENCIL – JOURNALING, ART, AND NOTE-TAKING – just click the link.

Grades 1-3: Early Learners

1. Endless Alphabet

Link: Endless Alphabet
Engage your young learner with this fun app that helps them learn the alphabet and build vocabulary with adorable monsters. It’s perfect for early literacy skills.

2. ABCmouse.com

Link: ABCmouse.com
This comprehensive app offers a full online curriculum for kids aged 2-8, covering reading, math, art, and more. Its interactive lessons and progress tracking make it a favorite among parents and teachers.

3. Moose Math – Duck Duck Moose

Link: Moose Math
Turn math into a fun adventure! Moose Math engages kids in counting, addition, subtraction, and sorting through delightful games and activities.

Grades 4-6: Building Foundations

1. Khan Academy Kids

Link: Khan Academy Kids
Khan Academy Kids offers a wide range of subjects with engaging lessons, videos, and interactive quizzes to help students grasp foundational concepts.

2. Prodigy Math Game

Link: Prodigy Math Game
This RPG-style math game makes learning math fun and adventurous. Students can practice math skills aligned with their school curriculum while battling monsters and completing quests.

3. Duolingo

Link: Duolingo
Perfect for introducing kids to new languages, Duolingo offers bite-sized lessons in various languages, making language learning accessible and enjoyable.

Grades 7-8: Expanding Horizons

1. Evernote

Link: Evernote
Evernote helps students organize their notes, assignments, and schedules in one place. It’s a great tool for developing good study habits and staying on top of their workload.

2. Explain Everything Whiteboard

Link: Explain Everything
This interactive whiteboard app allows students to create presentations, record explanations, and collaborate on projects, making it a versatile tool for various subjects.

3. CodeSpark Academy

Link: CodeSpark Academy
Introduce your kids to the basics of coding with this engaging app that uses games and puzzles to teach fundamental programming concepts.

Grades 9-10: Advanced Learning

1. Quizlet

Link: Quizlet
Quizlet offers a vast library of flashcards and study sets across various subjects. Students can also create their own study sets and use interactive games to reinforce learning.

2. WolframAlpha

Link: WolframAlpha
A powerful tool for high school students, WolframAlpha helps with complex math problems, science questions, and more. It’s like having a tutor available 24/7.

3. Notability

Link: Notability
Notability allows students to take notes, annotate PDFs, and record lectures. It’s especially useful for organizing study materials and enhancing productivity.

Enhancing Learning with the Apple Pencil

The Apple Pencil can significantly enhance the educational experience by providing a more interactive and hands-on approach to learning. Here are a few apps that make the most of the Apple Pencil:

GoodNotes 5

Link: GoodNotes 5
GoodNotes 5 allows students to write, sketch, and annotate documents seamlessly. The Apple Pencil makes note-taking feel natural, and the app’s organization features keep everything tidy.

Procreate

Link: Procreate
For budding artists and creatives, Procreate offers powerful drawing and painting tools. The Apple Pencil’s precision makes it a favorite for digital art and design projects.

Nebo

Link: Nebo
Nebo converts handwritten notes into digital text, making it easy to organize and search. It’s perfect for students who prefer writing by hand but need the convenience of digital notes.

Concepts

Link: Concepts
Concepts is a versatile sketching app that works well for brainstorming, mind mapping, and detailed drawings. The Apple Pencil enhances the precision and fluidity of sketches.

With these top-reviewed and most useful apps, your child’s back-to-school experience will be more productive and enjoyable. Equip them with these digital tools to support their learning journey and watch them excel in their studies!

Back to School or Off to College with Apple: Revolutionizing Learning with Cutting-Edge Tech

Explore the iPad collection:

iPad Air

Supercharged by the M2 chip, the redesigned 11-inch and all-new 13-inch iPad Air are available in new blue and purple finishes, along with starlight and space gray. Now available in two sizes for the first time, the 11-inch iPad Air is super portable, while the 13-inch model provides an even larger display for more room to work, learn, and play. Both deliver phenomenal performance and advanced capabilities, making iPad Air more powerful and versatile than ever before. With a faster CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine in M2, the new iPad Air offers even more performance and is an incredibly powerful device for AI.

The front-facing Ultra Wide 12MP camera with Center Stage is now located along the landscape edge of iPad Air for an even better video calling experience. With a portable design, all-day battery life, a brilliant Liquid Retina display, Wi-Fi 6E, and support for Apple Pencil Pro, Apple Pencil (USB-C), and Magic Keyboard, iPad Air empowers users to be even more productive and creative.

The 11-inch iPad Air starts at $799 (CAD) for the Wi-Fi model, and $999 (CAD) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model. The 13-inch iPad Air starts at $1,099 (CAD) for the Wi-Fi model, and $1,299 (CAD) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model. For education, the new 11-inch iPad Air starts at $729 (CAD), and the 13-inch model starts at $1,029 (CAD). Education pricing is available to current and newly accepted college and university students and their parents, as well as faculty, staff, and home-school teachers of all grade levels. For more information, visit apple.com/ca/shop/education-pricing.

Apple Pencil Pro

Apple Pencil Pro features even more magical capabilities and powerful new interactions that take the Apple Pencil experience even further. Advanced features like squeeze, barrel roll, and haptic feedback make marking up, taking notes, and creating a masterpiece more intuitive than ever. And with Apple Pencil hover, users can preview exactly where Apple Pencil Pro will touch down on the display, and double-tap to quickly switch tools.

Apple Pencil Pro brings support for Find My to Apple Pencil for the first time, helping users locate Apple Pencil Pro if misplaced. Apple Pencil Pro pairs, charges, and stores magnetically on the side of your iPad. The new Apple Pencil Pro is compatible with the new iPad Air. It is available for $169 (CAD), and $159 (CAD) for education. Apple Pencil (USB-C) is available for $109 (CAD) and $95 (CAD) for education.

Key features:

• Squeeze. Apple Pencil Pro can sense when you squeeze it and brings up a new palette, so you can quickly switch tools, line weights and colours.
• Barrel roll. A new gyroscope allows you to rotate the Apple Pencil Pro for precise control of shaped pen and brush tools.
• Haptic feedback. A custom haptic engine provides precise feedback you can feel. You’ll feel a light pulse confirming the action when you squeeze or double tap.
• Apple Pencil hover.¹ Preview exactly where your Apple Pencil will touch down on your display and see a virtual shadow of your tool. So you can write, sketch, and illustrate with even greater precision.
• Double tap. Quickly switch between tools, like a pen and eraser, with a double-tap on Apple Pencil.
• If you misplace Apple Pencil Pro while you’re out and about or at home, you can easily locate it in the Find My app. Apple Pencil Pro attaches, pairs, and charges magnetically on the side of your iPad.

New iPadOS 18 updates

– Currently in Public Beta, but coming to Students by the end of 2024.

The Notes app on iPad is getting new handwriting tools with Smart Script to make your handwritten note-taking with Apple Pencil just as flexible as typing text with your keyboard. With Smart Script, your handwriting is refined to be smoother as you write — you can also check the spelling of handwritten text or paste text in your handwriting style. Notes are getting more customizable with the ability to collapse sections and emphasize text with highlighting.

The Calculator app is designed for the unique capabilities of the iPad and delivers an entirely new way to use Apple Pencil or a keyboard to solve expressions. With a new Math Notes calculator, you can type or write out math with Apple Pencil to evaluate expressions, assign variables, and even plot graphs. The basic and scientific Calculators you know and love from iPhone come to iPad with some new tricks, including a History feature as well as Unit conversions.

Students love Freeform for its flexible canvas, which gets new enhancements this year that make it even easier to bring your ideas to life. With Scenes, you can organize content into sections and then save, label, and order them as you like. Once they’re saved, you can jump from scene to scene, making it easy to present the contents of your board. Share your ideas with as many people as you want by sending a copy via a link that anyone can use to open the board. Customize your Home Screen in exciting new ways, giving you more flexibility than ever. App icons and widgets on your Home Screen can now appear just the way you want—light, dark, with a tint, or larger in size. Place app icons and widgets in any open position on the Home Screen to create the ideal layout. Manage your files easier than ever in the Files app. Advanced iPad users who often work with external drives now have new options for reformatting files.

Education Pricing & Limited-Time Offer

Students can shop from the Education store here for education pricing. There’s a limited-time offer where, when purchasing a Mac or iPad, students get a gift card up to $200.