All links in the Symbaloo below will take you to the iTunes page so that you may learn more information about each app or install it on your iPad.
Read to Self Apps
There are many different choices for apps where children can read to themselves. In looking over the apps on the right, I have found that Epic! and Newsela provide the most robust content. Both of these apps can also be accessed on a desktop computer as well.
Collins Big Cats Stories and StoryChimes have a nice and vast mix of stories but each one has to be downloaded individually from the iTunes store. Big Cats Stories has a record feature in it. Students can record themselves reading a page in the story and then play it back to listen for fluency. That's a very nice feature.
iStoryBooks also has a wide array of stories to choose from. Again, each story has to be downloaded individually, but can be done from within the app. It was a simple matter of tapping on the book title and waiting a couple of seconds for it to be ready.
Read Me is more limited. Teachers will have to set the level on the iPad initially and students will only get 4 free books.
This Day in History and World of Animals Lite are both from World Books, so the information will be reliable. This Day in History is just that, choose a day and read about what happened. The World of Animals Lite has 20 animals that students can read about. The full paid version has many more. I did like the feature where students could choose 2 animals and compare them side-by-side.
K12 Timed Reading Practice has 20 stories for students to read. It has 5 stories per grade level, K-4. I've included it because it times the students as they read and gives them a WPM read at the end of the story. It provides some comprehension questions as well so that students will truly take the time to read the story.
Last but not least is Kids A-Z. A RAZ Kids or Headsprout paid account will open the door to over 1200 books for students to read. Otherwise, the reader is limited to just a few guest books.