4) Scroll down to the bottom and click on the green "Show me free stuff!" button.  You can type in a specific topic in the search bar or refine the results by subject and grade level.

5) Click on the deck of cards that you would like to use and click on the Add to Library green button.  Don't forget you can preview the first 4 cards of any deck - make sure to click on full-size preview to see how they work.  Check out my free Order of Operations deck to see an example.

6)  Next, click on Classes.  You can now enter your name and picture (if you want).

You may notice here that the membership information says you only have 5 students.  Don't worry!  You can always use the FastPlay option for free!  I'll go into detail later on in the post, but there's a way for students to use the cards without needing to log in.  The free plan includes unlimited FastPlay for as many students as you need, but it doesn't record their scores.  If you want to be able to see reports for students or create your own decks, you can upgrade your membership plan (and currently at $15 a year for 50 students, that's not a bad deal if you ask me).

7)​ ​Create a classroom.  Click on the blue "New Classroom" button at the bottom.  It will automatically create a name based on what you entered in your profile.  You can click on it and change it to Mrs. Smith's class, 1st period, Algebra 1, or whatever you would like to call the class.  You can also change the username and password for your class.   

8) Add students to your classroom.

Option A: Add the students yourself.  This is probably the best option if you have young students or only a few students.  You can do this by clicking on "Add 1 Student" if you want to enter one at a time, or on "Add Many Students" if you want to add several at once.  If you choose the second option, you just enter the names separated by commas and create a default password.  Students can change this password when they log in (don't worry, you can reset it for those that forget their password!).
Option B:  Let students create their own accounts!  I would recommend this option if you have older students. It's especially nice if you have a lot of students and don't want to type in all their names!  You just share the classroom username and password with your students (write it on the board, post it in your Google classroom, etc.).   Students go to Boom Learning just like you did, but they go to where it says Students and choose "Create Student" to make their own account.

​After they've entered the classroom username and password, they type in their name and create their own password.

9)​ Assign decks to students.  So easy to do!  Go to your library and find a deck that you want students to complete.  ​If you click on the blue "Action" button by the deck, it will give you several options to choose from.  (My Rounding Decimals deck is also free if you're interested.)

I always make the first question ask for the student name and the second question ask for their email address.  This makes it easy to identify the responses and you can set it up with Flubaroo to automatically email them their grades once they're done. 

Click on the SEND button at the top right of the page.  You can enter student email addresses or get the link to share with students.

Flubaroo needs to know the correct answers in order to grade the form you created.  You can create an answer key by answering the questions in your form yourself.  Use the same link you gave to students or email it to yourself and make sure to enter all the answers correctly to create the key.  I usually type "Answer Key" as the name on the first question so it's clear which response is the one I need to use to grade all the forms.

After students have completed the form, click on RESPONSES.  You can scroll through and see an overview of all the answers or click through to see what a specific student submitted.  In order to use Flubaroo to grade the responses, you need to click on the green button and create a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.

After you click on the spreadsheet button, it will open up a spreadsheet in Google Sheets and will show all the student responses.  Now you need to install the Flubaroo add-on (if you haven't already in the past) in order to grade them automatically.  Click the Add-ons tab and choose "Get add-ons."  Then type Flubaroo in the search bar and follow the installation instructions.

The Flubaroo add-on should now show up in the add-on tab.  Select "Grade Assignment" when you're ready to grade the responses.

Flubaroo will give you options to change the point value of questions or to grade certain questions by hand.  This works great if you have some questions that are short answer or paragraphs that you don't want graded automatically.  Make sure to pick your response to use as the answer key!

Flubaroo will create a new sheet that will show up at the bottom of your spreadsheet.  It does a great job of giving you a summary of the responses and will even highlight in red students that received less than 70% (you can change this in the Flubaroo settings if you want).

To share the grades with students, you click the Add-on tab again and it will now show an option to "Share Grades." This is an easy option if you want to email students their grades.

Trust me, this is an amazing time-saver for teachers! There are so many of my old assessments that I'm now turning into Google Forms to save time on grading.

Need more help? Check out this video to see the process in action step-by-step.

Looking for some Google Forms that you can use Flubaroo to grade automatically?  Check out these activities:
Factoring Quadratics Activity
Discriminant Activity
Area of a Circle Activity
Converting between Percents, Decimals, and Fractions Activity

Interested in using Boom Cards, but need help getting started? Check out my Complete Guide to Getting Started with Boom Cards.   Want to learn how to create your own decks?  You'll want to sign up for my Boom Cards Bootcamp! It includes 18 short video tutorials, 100+ images you can use to create your own decks of Boom Cards, and more!

Looking for resources to help geometry students find scale factors of similar shapes? Check out the FREE lesson on scale factors.  I've found that students usually struggle to figure out if the scale factor is going to be smaller or larger than 1.  This lesson has lots of great examples to help students find scale factors of similar triangles, rectangles, and other similar figures.  There's also a printable study guide you can print off for students to fill out as they follow along with the online lesson!

Don't have access to technology in your classroom? You could also use the guided note sheet to use with whole-group instruction!

Do your students struggle with rounding as much as mine do?  It seems there are always middle school and high school students who haven't quite mastered rounding.  Here's a few resources that I hope you find helpful for your students!

First, there's a FREE lesson on rounding to the nearest tenth and nearest hundredth.  The lesson includes examples, short videos, and a practice quiz with instant feedback!  I often direct students to this lesson if they need a quick refresher.  

If you're working on rounding decimals to the nearest tenth, hundredth or thousandth, there's also a fun rounding decimals speed dating activity.  Never tried speed dating with your class? It's so much fun!  (It can also be called Quiz Quiz Trade)  The idea is for students to "date" classmates by pairing up and solving questions on little cards that you pass out.  The answers are on the back so students check their work and then find a new partner to work on new problems.  It's a great way to get students up out of their seats and working together on math!

Do you have a favorite website that is your go-to for math ideas? Here are my top 9 favorite free math websites I use in the classroom.

Graphing:
geogebra.org: This website takes a little getting used to, but is great once you get the hang of it! Create your own dynamic activities or use one that's been shared online.
​desmos.com: Consider this the new generation of graphing calculators.

Tutorials:
katesmathlessons.com: Check out the math lessons, practice problems, and videos I've created to help my own algebra and geometry students.
purplemath.com: Lots of great tutorials here (geared towards older students)
coolmath.com: Middle School and Elementary lessons 

Blogs:
There are tons of of excellent math blogs out there you should make sure you're reading! My favorites are dy/dan, f(t), and yummy math.


Why did I pick 9 instead of 10?  My 10th favorite website isn't totally free, so I didn't think it was fair to have it in the official list.  I also love using IXL in the classroom.  I have a classroom account and love that it gives students instant feedback when they get a question wrong. 

How about you? Do you have any favorites I should add to the list?