5 Best Ways to Use Boom Cards in the Classroom

When I was teaching second grade, I felt like my students needed repeated practice of skills to attain mastery. The problem was that I never felt like I had the time to give my students the practice they needed. My reading and writing blocks were only 40 minutes long, and I wanted my students to be actually reading and writing for the majority of those blocks.

I had to think of creative ways to get my students to practice the skills they needed to become strong readers and writers.

When the pandemic hit, Boom Cards became very popular because they are digital. Although most schools are in-person again, Boom Cards continue to be popular because they are an easy and engaging way for students to master skills.

Boom Cards are interactive, self-checking, digital task cards. There are many reasons to use them which you can read about in this article.

Boom Cards are an excellent way to get your students to practice curricular skills as long as you implement them well in your classroom.

I will explain the 5 best ways to use them in your classroom.

1. Use Boom Cards for Guided Instruction

As teachers we know that we need to model skills for our students before they can practice them independently. Boom Cards work very well for guided instruction!

For example, let’s say you are teaching a grammar mini-lesson on identifying subjects in a sentence. You could project this Boom Card deck on Subjects (FREE on TPT) on your smart board and practice identifying subjects as a class.

You could either have students take turns coming to the smart board to identify the subject, or you could have students write their answers on their personal whiteboards.

2. Use Boom Cards for Centers

You can assign Boom Cards in your technology center through the Boom Learning app. You could either assign Boom decks that align with the skills they are learning in class, or assign Boom decks that review prior skills. Spiral review is so important for our students. Our curriculums are so packed with skills; we need to make sure that our students are constantly reviewing skills.

For only $25 a year, Boom Learning allows teachers to view student progress. This will help you to quickly identify skills that students need extra practice in. Perhaps you could re-assign Boom decks for centers or homework to students who need the practice.

This grammar bundle includes 50 Boom decks covering 50 grammar skills. This phonics bundle includes 40 Boom decks covering 40 spelling patterns. You can have your students keep cycling through these skills until they master them.

3. Assign Boom Cards to Early Finishers

We all have those students who finish their work before anyone else does. Usually we tell them to go read a book or write another story. At least that’s what I do!

Boom Cards a great activity for early finishers. They are fun and engaging for your students and give them the opportunity to practice skills.

You can also differentiate for your early finishers. Assign Boom decks that review already learned skills to students who need the additional practice. Assign Boom decks that introduce new or challenging skills to students who need a challenge.

4. Assign Boom Cards for Homework

Confession: In my first few years of teaching second grade, I assigned WAY TOO MUCH HOMEWORK! I thought that’s what good teachers did. And what made things worse was that the homework I assigned was really boring!

There has been a push to have students do less or no homework. I personally think it is good for students to go home and take a mental break for the remainder of the day. However, we also know that some students need extra reinforcement at home.

Boom Cards are a great activity for homework because they are super fun and engaging for students. Again, you can differentiate by assigning specific skills to students who need the practice.

Boom Cards are also great for homework because they are self-checking so there is little to no involvement needed by parents.

Tiny Teaching Shack has a free letter home that you can send to parents to explain how to access Boom Cards at home.

5. Review Skills with Boom Cards

Another way to use Boom Cards is for review before a formal assessment. You could project a Boom deck on your smart board and have students write their answers on personal whiteboards. You could also pair up students to work on a Boom deck together. Or you could assign Boom Cards for homework or centers in preparation for an assessment.

I love that Boom Cards are self-checking because students will get immediate feedback on their answers. This feedback will help students identify their errors and correct them before their assessment.

Conclusion

Boom Cards are an excellent resource to use in the classroom, but it is important to use them effectively. Just as we wouldn’t want our students to use our whole writing block to do grammar worksheets, the same goes for Boom Cards.

Have students use Boom Cards as a supplemental resource during non-instructional time to attain skill mastery. This will equip your students to apply these skills as they participate in more meaningful activities like reading and writing.

Try out 5 FREE Grammar Boom Decks by signing up on the sidebar. →

I also have 2 big Boom Card bundles which will cover grammar and phonics skills for the entire school year.

This grammar Boom Card bundle includes 50 Boom decks which cover 50 grammar skills for Grades 1 – 4. These Boom decks include easy to read directions for students.

This phonics and spelling Boom Card bundle includes 40 Boom decks which cover 40 spelling patterns. These decks will help students decode and spell words with these spelling patterns. These Boom Cards include audio directions for students.