You may have heard about Boom Learning from your teaching colleagues or students. You may have even found Boom Card resources for sale on TPT. Do Boom Cards have a place in the elementary music classroom? Absolutely! Read on for answers to some of the top common questions music teachers ask about using Boom Cards to enhance their students’ learning experience. You’ll also learn how to start incorporating them into your music class today!

What Are Boom Cards?

Boom Cards are interactive digital task cards designed to make learning fun and engaging. They create a gamified experience for students to practice, learn and reinforce a particular topic. Just like TPT, Boom Learning has its own marketplace where educators can purchase pre-made Boom Card decks or create their own. By gamifying the learning experience, Boom Cards have become a popular tool for teachers looking to enhance their instruction, particularly in subjects like music.

 

Why Should I Use Them?

Boom Cards are an engaging way to enhance music learning. Kids love them because they’re like games. They’re also really versatile and easy to use for review, assessment, skill practice, or even as a sub day activity!

 

Do Students Need Their Own Accounts To Play Boom Cards?

It depends on how you want your students to use the cards. If you’re planning on using them for a quick review, then accounts aren’t really necessary. If you want to review data later, then you’ll want to create accounts for your students. The students won’t need to create their accounts because you can easily create a class with student accounts or import your students directly from Google Classroom. Keep in mind that the free starter account will only allow you to have five students at a time. You’ll probably want to upgrade to at least premium if you decide Boom Cards are for you.

 

Do Students Need 1:1 Devices for Boom Cards Play?

While your students can use 1:1 devices for individual play, you can also create group experiences using shared devices. Sometimes I like to project a deck on the SmartBoard and have students take turns answering. While 1:1 devices offer more a personalized learning experience, boom cards can always be played as long as you have access to at least one device.

 

What Are Points?

Points are the currency that the Boom Store uses. For reference, 100 points are equivalent to about $1.00 USD. So if you see a deck of cards that cost 350 points, it should cost you about $3.50.

 

How Do I Find Boom Card Decks for Music Class?

I recommend using the filters to refine by subject and grade level. You can also use the search bar to search for specific musical concepts like ‘High and Low,’ or ‘Time Signatures.’ Alternatively, Boom Card decks can also be purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers, but you’ll still need a teacher account on Boom Learning in order to use the decks after purchasing them.

 

What If I Need MORE Than 150 Student Accounts?

I make it no secret that this is my biggest gripe and annoyance with Boom Learning. Most school years I would have upward of 1,000 students! 150 students is definitely limiting. Boom Learning does have an option to purchase additional seats at $0.62 for every 5 seats. There is a max of 550 seats. I do not recommend purchasing the additional seats unless your district is paying. Instead, I prefer to only retain my classes and data when my students are using Boom Learning for some kind of assessment. If I’m not relying on the data for assessment, I’ll opt for sending one of the Fast Pin links instead. Remember, you can always print your assessment data if you need more space for student accounts.

 

What are Fast Pins Anyway?

Fast Pins are one of three modes for assigning and distributing Boom Cards to students. The three modes include:…

• Fast Pin = Send a link for students to play without needing to log in. This play-mode will not retain data for assessments. I recommend issuing fast pin links for substitutes or reviews. It’s a really quick way to start playing a deck immediately. I like to use this feature when I’m throwing a deck on the SmartBoard for the whole class to play together.
• Assign = This will pre-assign the deck to students so that they will see it as soon as they log into their Boom Learning accounts. It will also record and retain the data from when students play through the deck.
• Hybrid = Allows you to provide a link directly to the game, but students will be prompted to log in to their Boom accounts first. This mode will record and retain student data for your review after they play.

 

What is the Student Incentive with Boom Cards?

Boom Learning has gamified the experience for students, by offering coins, gems, and lightning bolts as incentives. Students can later use their coins to purchase new avatars for their Boom Learning account from the Mystery Store. Believe it or not, this keeps them really engaged when we’re doing a Boom Learning afternoon. They’ll always excitedly tell me to “check their account” to see their latest mystery avatar.

 

How Do I Access and Interpret Student Data in Boom Learning?

You can access and review student data in the reports tab. Remember, fast pin links won’t track or store student data.

Once on the reports page, click “currently assigned” to find the deck you assigned your students. This will take you to an overview page showing how many times each student has reviewed or played through the deck. Note that this number will appear as a decimal for incomplete playthroughs. For example, a 4.0 means four full playthroughs, while a 0.4 likely indicates only four questions answered.

To see a specific student’s performance, click on their name. You’ll find details about incorrect answers and response times for each question.

You can export or print any assessment data from the reports tab.

 

How Can I Use Boom Cards In Elementary Music?

Honestly, I used Boom Cards so much when I was in the classroom. Here are just a few situations where I used or relied on Boom Learning in Elementary Music.

• On Days I Lose Access to the Music Room: If you’ve never experienced this, that’s great! But if you’ve been in public schools long enough, you’ll know this happens to us all the time with little or no notice. I used to get so stressed and flustered when this happened to me. Then, I decided to do a “Boom Cards Day”. It took only minutes to set up student accounts and assign relevant decks. My students were so excited to play through the assigned decks during their “Boom Learning Day”. It was the perfect no-stress solution for a situation that often caused me so much stress as a teacher.

• Review: If there’s a concept my students are fuzzy on, I typically have a Boom Cards deck in my library that will help. I’ll often use Fast Pin links to project decks on the SmartBoard for review.

• Exit Tickets: I especially like doing this with the lower grade levels during the last 5-10 minutes of class. If I’ve done a lesson like, “High or Low” I’ll generally use the Fast Pin link to do a quick evaluation of students at the end of class. Each student will be given 1-2 questions to answer, allowing me to quickly gauge which students might need more help in a future class. You can also do this by assigning decks but it will take a bit longer to have them log in to their Boom accounts.

• Sub Days: This is really going to depend on your district, but if your students have 1:1 devices, you can easily assign Boom Learning decks to your students in your absence. Just make sure you either send links in advance or leave detailed instructions with the sub on how your students can access their accounts. Please note, I usually won’t leave Boom Card decks as sub work for younger grades and prefer to do this with upper grades. While the younger grades enjoy them too, they will often encounter more technical difficulties with their device and Boom Learning than the older grades, so unless you have a tech savvy sub, I would save this for grades 3 and up!

So, there you have it! Boom Cards are a fantastic tool for your music teacher toolbox. They’re fun, engaging, and perfect for review, assessment, and even sub days. I’ve shared some tips and tricks to help you get started, but the best way to learn is by trying them out yourself! I’ve been building a bundle of Boom Card resources for elementary music teachers, and you can also find my Boom resources individually on Teachers Pay Teachers or Boom Learning. If you get stuck or confused, explore Boom Learning’s extensive help section and YouTube channel for tutorials. Good luck! I hope you find Boom Cards as fun, helpful, and dare I say, magical, as I always have! 😎