I have jumped on the Boom™ bandwagon. I would like to encourage you to check it out! They are fun for your students and rather addictive to create. In today’s post, I would like to provide some answers to common questions to help you navigate the opportunities available in Boom™.

What are Boom cards?

Boom™ Cards are interactive, self-correcting task cards created by teachers. Boom decks can be purchased on the Boom™ learning site or from Teachers Pay Teachers by parents or teachers. On the Boom™ site, you will need a membership to purchase cards. This will open an account which can house your cards. At the time of this posting, memberships range from FREE (which will allow you to assign decks using FastPlay to all of your students but you will not be able to collect data) to an Ultimate membership which will allow you to sell decks you create (currently $35. per year). Click here to see the various membership levels available. If you purchase a Boom™ deck from their website, the transaction is completed using points which is roughly a penny per point.

Who are Boom™ decks for?

Decks are available for preschoolers to advanced high school AP classes. The website is easy to navigate and filters help you to be able to locate what you need for your students.

What do you need?

An internet, a browser or the Boom™ App (available free from App Store, Google Play, or Kindle Fire App), and a device (desktop, laptop, Chromebook, tablet, kindle, or iPad (or iPhone). Technical specs and help can be found on the help pages of the Boom™ website.

What are FASTPINS?

Fastpins are a free way to share Boom™ Cards with your students. After logging into your teacher account, locate the deck you would like your students to complete and click on FASTPIN. You will see GENERATE NEW PIN. Click to receive a code for your students to play. You may either copy and paste the link and distribute to your students OR have students go to boom learning.com and click on FASTPLAY and enter the code. Starter accounts can use the FASTPLAY for 15 days while paid accounts allow a 14 day window.

So why would I want a paid account?

The two biggest advantages I see for paid accounts would be getting student progress information and assigning decks to students. Paid accounts also allow you to create more decks and with the Ultimate account you can sell deck. See above for a link to current memberships. They are very affordable.

Can I share my decks with other teachers?

The links are licenses for one teacher only (unless a multi-teacher license was purchased). Sharing the link risks your account and the account of the recipient being suspended until all decks are paid for.

What rewards are available to students?

Students will enjoy the format and self-correcting aspects of using Boom™ cards. In addition students can earn coins, gems and lightning bolts. The coins can be used to buy Avitars. A complete explanation of the reward system may be found here.

So what if I need help?

The Boom™ community is very user friendly. The website has extensive help information. There are a large number of tutorials available on YouTube. My experience has been the company is very responsive and frequently monitors the facebook groups, helping to field questions and concerns. Using Boom™ is very easy and your kids will enjoy it!

What kind of student data is available on Boom Cards?

Clicking on the report tag allows the teacher to see updated data on their class. Using the easy-to-use drop downs and the search bar you can select recently played decks. You can zone in on the time period you want to see. You will have the option to search for a specific student. You will be able to see the progress they have made on the current deck, their current average, their best score and their last score. In addition the time spent on cards (average) will be displayed. There is also an option to export, print or go live. (The go live option is available for Power Memberships and above. This allows you to watch student progress in real time–great for quick intervention!). A more complete explanation of all the data available may be found by clicking here.

Looking for Boom Cards? Check out the preschool to grade 8 Boom™ cards available from Reading Specialty!

If you prefer to purchase from TPT, please click here to be directed to the TPT Reading Specialty Store.