18 Jan All About Boom Cards in Special Education
In a year full of uncertainty and constantly changing plans, teaching special education has been anything but easy. Consistency for both my students and me has always been a priority and that felt nearly impossible at the beginning of the year. I needed interactive activities that could work for both in-person and virtual schedules without creating double the work for me. Enter: Boom cards.
With a free account, you can access hundreds of free interactive activities to assign to your classroom of students. Students have personal accounts that can be connected to their Google accounts or you can give them a picture password to limit the typing needed to log in. Once you have an account set up, it’s easy to assign activities and monitor students’ progress.
Benefits of Boom Cards
- Interactive: Boom cards are engaging ways to practice skills in all subject areas.
Benefits of Boom Cards
- Self-correcting: Students get immediate feedback on each question.
- Individualized: Different decks can be assigned to specific students or the whole class. My favorite part of Boom cards is the ability to easily differentiate activities to meet each child’s unique needs.
- Data driven: Boom cards create reports that summarize both class and individual students’ data. This data can be used to measure progress towards IEP goals or assess students’ understanding of different standards.
- Ideal for independent work at home and school: Boom cards are easy for students to complete independently. They can be used as homework, during center based activities in the classroom, or as independent work during virtual learning.
- Compatible with touch screen and mouse devices: All the activities are easy to complete for students with fine motor difficulties and can be used with phones, iPads, and computers.
How I use Boom Cards with Students with Disabilities
I have students who are both in-person and virtual this year. Boom cards are used daily for both groups of students. Parents, paraprofessionals, and students have all enjoyed using them in various ways.
For my in-person students, I use Boom cards as supplemental work when they are in their general education classrooms. I assign modified activities that align to the curriculum and their IEP goals. When their peers are completing assignments on the computer, my students complete assignments on Boom cards.
For my students who are online, Boom cards are the perfect activity for students to do during their time with a paraprofessional. Paraprofessionals or individual students can share their screen to complete the activity. I assign skills that they’ve learned with me to target generalization and maintenance.
Boom cards have even saved me so much time when writing sub plans. As long as the sub has the login information, activities that students are familiar with are readily available when needed.
Digraph Identification Boom Cards
If I haven’t convinced you to try Boom cards yet, check out the link below for a preview of an activity on Boom cards. Boom cards in my special education classroom have truly been a lifesaver for me this year. Check it out and comment below with questions or ways you use Boom cards in your classroom!
