When I found out that I would be the teacher to my kids during the pandemic, I struggled with finding resources to help them with their studies in English, French and Arabic, that was till I found Boom Cards.
Boom Cards are essentially interactive flashcards that are self paced, self-correcting and fun. They are a great addition to learning during this unpredictable time of our children’s lives because you can find a variety of subjects available.
Today I am going to share with you what Boom Cards are, how and why to use them in your home learning, how to get a free account set up, how to find decks and assign them to students and answer some other questions that you may have.
Disclaimer : I am not affiliated with Boom, I am not receiving a commission from this blog post or my introduction video on Teachers Pay Teachers**. I only create and sell my decks that are hosted on their website.
What are Boom Cards?
Boom cards are the digital version of task cards, they are interactive digital flashcards that are fun and self-correcting that can include audio, images or video file.Typically task cards are individual cards that has a prompt or activity that the students can complete either individually or in pairs with and that offer students opportunities to engage with a particular topic in various forms.
A set of Boom cards is referred to as a deck and a boom card is essentially one card found within the deck. Each one of the products mentioned in this post will be referred to as a deck.
Boom Cards are easy to use and so useful for language learning as they can incorporate reading, listening, writing, spelling, grammar, and more. These cards include drag and drop, fill in the blank, matching, and multiple choice questions along with colorful images. Students can hear the correct pronunciation of words while they work; all of the decks that I create have audio from a native speaker.
Why are they great for home learning?
There are many reasons why you should be using Boom Cards like
- Great for the parents who do not speak the majority language,
- Self-correcting!
- Paperless! Meaning no more cleaning up cards off the ground!
- Teacher/parent can see student results!
- Students learn tricky concepts quickly with immediate feedback!
- Students love Boom!
- It is like a digital learning lesson with a quiz or practice session combined
- Audio is great for students who are non-speaking or have trouble reading
- It is great addition to a unit study to see if a child understands the info
- Incorporates all types of learning from listening, writing, reading, grammar, vocabulary
- Boom Cards will save you so much planning time!
- There is no need to print, laminate or cut.
- Simply assign task cards to your student and go.
- A student can relearn or understand difficult concepts
- Saving time (less grading!)
- They are engaging to students!
It is a fact- when learning is turned into a game format, students learn more because of the fun factor. One of the reason is student engagement. Oddly enough, failure in the classroom is often seen as failure. Right? Still, many experts estimate that gamers spend up to 80% of their time failing…. yet they are only more eager to play the game again!
quote from https://features4teachers.com/boom-cards-digital-resources/
What do you need to use Boom Cards?
- A computer, tablet, or interactive whiteboard
- Access the computer version here: https://wow.boomlearning.com/
- Download the Apple app here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/boom-cards/id1041141473?mt=8
- Download the Android app here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cards.boom.boom
- Download the Kindle fire app here: https://www.amazon.com/Boom-Learning-Cards/dp/B01M8M6OFF/
- An internet browser that is 3 or fewer years old (OR the free Boom app) and an internet connection
- A free or paid Boom account (if you open a new account and click a link you get from a TeachersPayTeachers Boom card purchase, you’ll get 3 months free) I will talk more about this below.
How to set up an account ?
There are different accounts based on your needs. But, if you only have five children or less and you aren’t planning on creating your own decks to sell, you can open a free account.
Go to wow.boomlearning.com to sign up for your teacher account. It only takes 1-2 minutes to sign up. Click the following:
- Sign In (upper right)
- Join for Free (underneath the images, blue link)
- I’m a Teacher
- Join with Email
- Enter your email and password (more than 8 characters)
- Create Account
How to set up accounts for students
Now it’s time to learn how to create your Boom student accounts. Read the instructions or watch the quick explanatory video below.
In your dashboard, you’ll click “Add Many Students,” and enter nicknames for each student. Boom Learning will automatically generate passwords, but you can create personalized passwords too!
Where can I buy boom cards?
Arabic, English (ESL), French and Turkish
- Adrienne from Hands-on Multilingual Fun (PreK-8)
You can buy boom cards in either Teachers pay Teachers or Boom Learning store.
To search for Boom Cards on the Boom Learning website, make sure you are signed into your account. Click on the “Store” tab. Use the search feature to find what you are looking for. To purchase Boom Cards you will need to purchase store credits. To search for Boom cards on Teachers Pay Teachers include the words “boom cards”, “distance learning” or “internet activities” in your search.
Boom Decks are sold using a points system. 100 points=$1. So if you find a deck you like for 300 points, that translates to $3. When you make a purchase, your purchased decks go straight to your Library ready for you to assign to your class or individual students. More sellers are selling their bundle decks on Boom Learning than Teachers Pay Teachers.
Would you like to try out some Free decks?
First, you need to create your free teacher account and then click on each one of the links below to test them out.
Here is a list of free decks by language:
Arabic
Sunflower Counting 0 to 10 in Arabic
Sampler Arabic Alphabet Matching
Arabic Letter and Number Tracing
All about the Letter Alif / Arabic Alphabet Series FREE Sampler
Is this a Muslim? | Errorless Deck
English
Ramadan Vocabulary Quiz | Drag & Drop Name
Thanksgiving Emotions Matching | Same & Different
French
Checking out the reports
You can access the reports by clicking on “Reports” on your account and then clicking your classroom and the assigned deck.
Reports allow you to see:
- How many cards from each deck he has finished
- How many more unique cards he has to do in each deck
- Which cards he has seen
- What he answered (each time he tried)
- The percentage correct (of what he’s seen so far)
- How long the problem took him to answer on average
What are other homeschooling parents saying?
“Most decks are great supplements to lessons and provide a unique way for kids to practice skills My kids love BOOM cards and asks to play them every day. They say they are very fun!”
Jennifer Connett from The Connett Connections
Now, I’m a homeschool mom, so my students are not the typical all-in-one-grade situation that teachers have. Obviously, the cards I want my 8-year-old son to do are different from those I’d suggest to my preschooler. It is so easy to create family differentiation in the app! I created two different classes in Boom, one called “PreK” and the other called “3rd/4th Grade.” I also have a practice class for me to try out all the cards.
Rebecca Reid from Line Upon Line Learning
“My kids love to play with Boom after learning about a particular subject, they say that they remember it better this way.”
Adrienne from Hands-on Multilingual Fun
“There is a lot of content! Search for what will help your student in a specific area.”
– Lydia Georgette
Ready to start…. Create an account NOW!
Is it easy?
All of the decks are self-checking. Some cards will give immediate feedback once the learner gives his/her answer. Other decks, require that learners hit “Submit” before moving to the next card
Unless the order in which students solve the cards is important, Boom Decks are randomized. In a randomized deck, students will be given 20 cards to play, although a Boom Deck may include more than 20 cards. When playing more than once, students are shown cards that they have seen less frequently.
Forever access to your decks
Once you access a Boom Deck, it is in your “library” forever even if the author deletes it from their store. You will always have free access to assign and play your Boom Decks in “Fast Play” mode. In Fast Play mode, student data is not recorded, but students receive instant feedback Go back up to grab those free decks, and you’ll always have them 🙂
Today, I shared with the ultimate guide to getting started on using Boom Cards. Boom cards are self-correcting, paperless task cards that make home learning so much easier, especially when it’s in a language you may not understand or a concept you don’t remember. Check them out today!
