5 Ways to Use Boom Cards in the Classroom

I am sure you heard some buzz about Boom Cards during your distance learning journey this past year. Boom Cards dominated the distance learning playing field because they can be assigned and accessed digitally, students find them fun, and they can provide the teacher with valuable reports and insights from a distance. I am sharing 5 ways you can bring those beloved Boom Cards back into the classroom for in-person learning!

If you'd like to read more about using Boom Cards during distance learning, click here.

I used Boom Cards waaaaaaaaaay before the pandemic and the pivot to virtual learning. My goal in this post is to share some of the ways you can use Boom Cards back in your classroom.

Using Boom Cards in the Classroom

Whole Group

As a former Kindergarten and now First Grade teacher, the first way I use Boom Cards is in a whole group setting. This is the perfect way to introduce them to your class. I love using my Word Work/Phonics Boom Cards as a whole group review after we have learned a new skill. My students would literally squeal with joy when they heard we were doing a Boom Review! I would display the Boom Card deck on my SmartBoard and call students up to complete each card. To make it even more engaging, the students who weren't at the board would be writing the word on their dry erase boards. Talk about 100% engagement!

Small Groups

I love to start all of my reading and math groups with a warm up. Before we begin reading groups, I start off with a word work activity. Sometimes it's with whiteboards or magnetic letters and other times it's with Boom Cards. I would display the deck on an iPad and we'd practice the skill that was being taught or reviewed together. This way, I was able to provide different levels of support to students while we were playing the deck as a group.

Learning Centers

This is my FAVORITE way to use Boom Cards in the classroom! Why? Because they are a NO PREP center, easy to differentiate, self-checking, and highly engaging. What more can a teacher ask for in a learning center?

Boom Cards is a constant center in my Math Rotations and it truly makes it a breeze when I am planning my centers to know that I have a simple technology center ready to go every single week that I do not need to prep! Don't get me wrong, I love printing, cutting, laminating, and cutting again all the things! I love centers that come with recording sheets. I also love write the room centers that get kids up and moving around the room. But knowing that I have a constant tech center ready to go with no prep at all has really helped me with my Math Center game.

I can (and will) dedicate an entire post just to using Boom Cards during centers. The thing that makes Boom Cards fantastic for learning centers is that they are self-checking and most decks will include audio. Have you ever been sitting with a small group and a student comes up with a laminated picture of something to ask you what it is? Have you had a student come up who needs you tell them the directions, again? A student wondering if they got the right answer to the question? Boom Cards solves ALL THOSE PROBLEMS. Students will receive immediate feedback on each card and most decks include sound so students can listen to the name of the picture or click the speaker to hear the directions read to them.

Lastly, a paid subscription to Boom Learning will allow you to receive reports on students' work so no recording sheets, nothing extra to grade, no problem! It's like Boom is my Center Time Personal Assistant!

Early Finisher Activities

We all have that one (or two or three) kids who seem to finish everything way before the rest of the class. I tried to dedicate a section of my classroom to an Early Finisher pocket chart with activities that they can do when they are done, the copies for each activity, etc. Let's just say it was giving me more work than it was solving the early finisher problem.

I now use Boom Cards, as well as our Work in Progress Folders, as early finisher tasks. If a student finishes the task early, they can get an iPad, log on to Boom and play a deck that I have assigned. If your students don't have their own log-in accounts, you can display the FastPlay pin somewhere in the classroom so they know exactly what to do when they finish. Now the early finishers are engaged and learning which gives you time to assist the students who are still working rather than have to stop and find them something to do.

Homework

I bet you didn't think of using Boom Cards as homework! It's important to note that to do this, you should make sure that each student has access to a device and internet connection. Boom Cards can be played on almost any device (even a cell phone while watching a soccer practice!) which makes them a great paperless homework assignment. If your students have their own accounts, you can have them log in to play a deck. If they don't, you will just need to assign them a FastPlay Pin that they can type in at www.boomlearning.com or on the free Boom Learning App. Click here to grab my FREE Homework Notes for assigning Boom Cards.

Below are some of the resources that I use in my classroom throughout the year. I love assigning the seasonal themed Boom Cards during centers and for early finishers. The grade level year long Math bundles are great for math centers and homework. Lastly, I use the year long Phonics/Word Work bundles as whole group review, small group interventions and homework.