What Is Boom Cards?
As teachers all over the US have undergone one of the most intense transitions in my and probably most others’ teaching careers. We have made insane changes to the way we run our classrooms, teach our lessons and of course, interact with our students. Distance learning has taken a toll on everyone involved. It has been up to wonderful teachers to make the transition seamless for all of the children involved. Out of the variety of distance learning platforms, Boom Cards have taken our days of distance learning to a new level.
Boom Cards are interactive, self-checking digital resources. They are the perfect way for students to stay engaged, responsive, and entertained. Boom cards aren’t only good for distance learning. They can also be used in the classroom. Anywhere that you are able to have a stable internet connection and accessible device you are able to use Boom Learning.
Benefits of Boom
| Self-Grading | Spend less time on grading papers and writing feedback with the self-grading benefits of Boom Cards! |
| Interactive | Boom cards are an interactive way for students to stay engaged from a distance. While they may be great for distance learning, Boom Card decks can be integrated into the classroom. |
| No printing, cutting, or laminating | Boom learning is great because it is ALL online. Not only will you save valuable time grading, but you will also skip the intense preps of waiting in line for the printer, waiting for the laminator, and cutting for all of your students. |
| Use with any and all internet-connected devices | Meaning you could connect to any internet device you have in the classroom. Whether it be a computer, student tablets, or even pull up boom learning on your classroom's smartboard. |
As you can see there are tons of benefits of boom! K-1 teachers and beyond have been taking advantage of these amazing tools for teachers.
Setting Up Your Boom Learning
Setting up a Boom Learning account is super simple. Follow these steps to start creating your boom card decks today!
Step 1: Sign in or join for free
Head on over to https://wow.boomlearning.com/. You will first be brought to the home page. In the upper right-hand corner you will see sign in - click sign in and choose I’m a teacher.
Step 2: Sign in with an email or other program
It was easiest for me to sign in with my google email because we use google programs throughout our school, but feel free to choose whichever login method works best for you and your students!
Once you sign in with your email you will be able to explore boom cards interactive learning!
Step 3: Make a new classroom!
You can create classes and add students directly from the browser. In the upper left-hand corner, you will see a classes tab. Choose this tab and start creating!
Step 4: Assign Decks to Students
After setting up your classroom and adding all of your students to the account you are ready to share cards with students.
Before you are able to assign decks to students, you’ll have to create or acquire decks! You can do this through the store directly on your homepage.
After purchasing Boom Decks you can find them in the Boom library. From here you will be able to easily assign digital activities to students while also tracking student logins and student performance.
Navigating Boom Learning Membership Levels
There are 3 different membership levels offered through Boom Learning. Teachers can decide which is best for their teaching styles and classrooms. Here is a breakdown of the different membership options.
| Basic Membership | The basic membership or starter membership is great for small classrooms that might just be starting out! | Free for 5 Students, 1 Classroom, and 5 Self-made Decks. |
| Essential Membership | The essential membership is great for teachers who have now played with Boom Learning a bit and are ready to take it to the next level, taking advantage of the benefits of Boom. | $25/year with 150 students, 17 classrooms, and 5 self-made decks. |
| Premium Membership | The Premium membership is perfect for teachers who teach multiple grades or classes. | $40/year with 17 classrooms and unlimited self-made decks. |
| Fast Play | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Detailed Reports | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Connect with Colleagues | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Share Students with Colleagues | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Share Student Reports | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Extra Student Seats | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Live Reports | ✅ | ||
| Share Self-Made Decks | ✅ | ||
| Upload Custom Sounds | ✅ |
Tips and Tricks of Boom Learning in the Classroom
Whether you’re a 1st grade teacher, a music teacher, or a math teacher Boom Card decks can be integrated into your classroom. Some of the best ways for integration of this fabulous resource is through
- Zoom lessons
- Practice after lessons
- Literacy Centers
- And many more!
It might take a little time to get used to the skill of using Boom cards in the classroom, but once you’ve got it your students will never stop thanking you. This interactive, self-checking digital resource will be a great addition to Kindergarten lesson plans as well as all other grades.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I See Student Answers on Boom Cards?
Viewing student performance is quite easy when using Boom Learning. In order to view individual students' answers; you must choose the deck you assigned to students. If you click on reports at the top of your Boom Learning teacher page you will find a decks category, click on the deck you would like to track. Through this, you will see a detailed log of student performance. You can download reports about student activity directly from here.
How do Students Access Boom Cards?
Teachers can provide a link for students to access Boom Cards. Students can then login into their account through a google account, directly from Boom, a Microsoft account, or with clever. It can be set up depending on what your school/classroom prefers. Once your student logins are set up you can start assigning Boom Cards and tracking all the benefits of boom!
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