Learning to read sight words is a crucial step in increasing reading fluency. Regardless of what you call them, trick words, high-frequency words, or sight words. We can all agree our kindergarten students need to be able to read these allusive words. If our students struggle with fluency they will lose comprehension. Our early readers need a library of sight words that they can read quickly and correctly. Many kindergarten teachers ask “How do I teach sight words to my kindergarten students?”. There are many tips that help teachers create lessons to increase fluency. You can read about strategies here
Using Boom Cards is a great option when teaching sight words. Here are 5 reasons why using Boom cards to teach high-frequency words is a successful strategy.
#1 Boom Cards are self-checking.
Why are self-checking activities so important to our students? When students engage in self-checking Boom Cards they receive immediate feedback on their work.
We all need people who give us feedback. That’s how we improve.
— Bill Gates
Students receive “real-time” information about their learning. This information can increase their confidence and inform their future practice. When our kindergarteners receive immediate feedback it can have a positive impact on stopping incorrect patterns before they become habits
#2 Boom Cards have sound.
For the vast amount of us, we will have students in our classes that have skills and knowledge that have huge ranges of levels. We are called upon to provide differentiation in every lesson we provide. Kindergarten teachers need to scaffold learners who have special needs and for students for whom English is not their first language. Our ELL students and our students with special needs have unique learning needs and it’s up to teachers to meet those needs. Boom Cards provide the scaffolding and differentiation that we are required to provide. When kindergarten teachers use the sound feature on Boom cards they can support vocabulary, reading skills, and comprehension.
The Sound feature on Boom Cards has an additional benefit. When kindergarten students are engaging in a sight word literacy center we can simultaneously give them a mini-lesson. As we ask early readers to build a sight word they can also hear that sight word. This offers additional support and meaning to the lesson.
#3 Boom Cards are really engaging.
You can’t count out the fun factor of Boom Cards. Kid’s love Boom Cards. Boom cards make learning feel like a game. Many Boom Cards offer a variety of ways for our students to show their understanding. Kindergarten students can click buttons, move pieces, and type their answers. Boom is colorful and bright and many Boom Cards even offer a video to really engage the students and provide an extra mini-lesson.
#4 Boom Collects Data
Data that 4 letter word. We all know we need to take data but we are often asked to take so much data that we are buried. When we use data to drive instruction we are making the best decisions for our students. Boom Learning gets to the essence of what we need to know as kindergarten teachers. What do our children know? What do they need to know? Boom provides data on rate and accuracy. Accuracy is critically important. When we see the percentage of correct answers we can determine if our students are ready to move on or if they need intervention. This information is truly the essence of teaching.
#5 Boom Cards won the Academics’ Choice Media Award, Winner
With the huge growth of digital resources, it can be difficult to shift through all the noise to find appropriate digital resources for our kindergarteners’ unique learning needs. You can feel confident with Boom Learning because Boom has won the Academics’ Choice Smart Media Award.
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