Megan Reynolds

I am a teacher & designer. Connecting with students & seeing them enjoy learning is my favorite feeling on earth! I hope you enjoy this article!

3rd Grade Social Emotional Choice Board Tutorial for Teachers

Build your own Social Emotional Choice Board for 3rd Grade in minutes! Keep kids engaged & learning using these tactics & templates

Common Core Standards: SL.3.1, SL.3.2, SL.3.6

To use a choice board in your 3rd Grade Classroom during Social Emotional you will need to create the Social Emotionalchoices (there are lots of examples), organize the classroom, and have a goal;

Time-saving, differentiation, and dynamic classroom management are my favorite reasons to use a choice board!

Integrating choices every day you will need to hone in on the best way to apply 3rd Grade Social Emotional choice boards to your classroom style!

Here are a few ideas and instructions on choices, classroom management and getting buy-in from your3rd Graders

Ideas & Examples of Great 3rd Grade Social Emotional Choices

Friendship Bracelet Making

Make a friendship bracelet! Pick colorful threads, twist them together in patterns, tie knots, and share with a buddy to show you care. Fun and easy!

Gratitude Jar Decorating

Decorate a jar with stickers & drawings. Write things you’re thankful for on slips of paper, fold them, and put them in the jar. Open it later to remember good stuff!

Kindness Poster Creation

Draw a big heart on a poster. Inside, write ways to be kind, like sharing or saying nice words. Decorate with stickers or drawings of people helping each other.

Emotion Charades Game

Emotion Charades: Act out a feeling without words and others guess it! Be happy, sad, scared, or angry. Have fun guessing and learning about feelings!

Compliment Cards Craft

Make a card with nice words for a friend! Draw and write what you like about them. Share it to make them smile. 😊🎨💌

Feelings Journal Time

Feelings Journal Time is when you write about how you feel today. Are you happy, sad, or mad? Draw or write it in your journal. It’s your private space to share your heart!

Mindful Breathing Exercise

Sit quietly, close your eyes. Breathe in slowly through your nose, fill your belly with air. Hold it. Now breathe out slowly through your mouth. Repeat and smile.

Empathy Role-Play Skits

Empathy skits are short plays where we act out feelings and practice understanding others. Imagine being in their shoes and show how you’d be kind and helpful!

Positive Affirmation Posters

Happy Thoughts Signs: Say these magic words to feel strong and smiley! ‘I am smart’, ‘I can do hard things’, ‘I am a good friend’. Hang them up and say them loud!

Using a Choice Board to Differentiate Social Emotional in a 3rd Grade Classroom

Keep It Simple

Everyone “teacher & student” should know exactly what they are doing. If you don’t make it even easier!

Differential Instruction vs Saving time?

There is nothing more irritating than “Saving Time” with a Choice Board & ending up with “More work!”. Are you using this to hit standards or save time or both?

"Self Guided" or "instruction-based"?

If you giving out work, should they do it on their own or are these more instructions for each choice?

General rule, if the grade is > 3 there is more work per choice.

FREE Blank Fillable & Custom Choice Board

All ages, all grades where you need 9 grid choice board. Start loving learning again!

How To Manage Your 3rd Grade Classroom During Social Emotional (With a Choice Board)

I find its easiest to use a big board at the front of the classroom where all students can see the choices then decide what they want to do.

This often will be coming in from a break or transition between subjects.

If you can get all students to know whats expected during a choice activity it becomes one-hundred times easier to manage the class & have everyone know what choices they have!

There are three core steps you have to hit when using a Choice Board;

1) The Set Up
2) The Instruction
3) The Q+A

1) The Set Up

Select your choices, decide on how you are going to use this time in your classroom. Build the choice board

1) The Instruction

Tell the students what they are going to be doing (this becomes easier over time) Simply start with 3 options & move from there.

1) The Q & A

Does anyone have questions? This will help you or the next time. Remember the goal is to make this easier each time!

Why Use A Choice Board?

So, let’s chat about choiceboards and why they’re like the coolest thing ever in your classroom.

Picture this: kiddos bouncing into the room, eyes lighting up because they get to pick their own adventure in learning new words.

It’s like a mini vocab party, and everyone’s invited!

We all have our own jam, right? Some of us are little artists, others are born performers, and some love to get lost in stories. Choice boards are like a buffet of fun learning snacks, so every munchkin finds something tasty that helps the vocab stick!

And here’s the kicker – when the little ones get to steer the ship, they turn into these mini captains of learning. They’re making the calls, and with every choice, they puff up a bit more with confidence. It’s a win-win – they’re learning and feeling like the boss at the same time.

Plus, for us teachers, it’s like having a secret helper in the room. We get to sprinkle in all sorts of activities that match our students’ levels and what makes their hearts tick. It’s like custom-making a learning playlist that gets every kid grooving to the vocab beat. How cool is that?