Megan Reynolds

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!

4th Grade Exercise Choice Board Tutorial for Teachers

Build your own Exercise Choice Board for 4th Grade in minutes! Keep kids engaged & learning using these tactics & templates
To use a choice board in your 4th Grade Classroom during Exercise you will need to create the Exercisechoices (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 4th Grade Exercise choice boards to your classroom style!

Here are a few ideas and instructions on choices, classroom management and getting buy-in from your4th Graders

Ideas & Examples of Great 4th Grade Exercise Choices

Create Your Own Dance Routine
Pick your favorite song, create fun moves for each part, like clapping for the chorus. Practice until you can do it smoothly. Share with friends!
Nature Yoga Poses Challenge
Nature Yoga Challenge: Pretend to be trees, stand tall, balance on one leg. Be a mountain, strong and still. Curl up like a tiny seed. Stretch out like a starfish. Have fun moving like nature!
Superhero Fitness Challenge
Fly like Superman: Jump as high as you can 5 times. Hulk Smash: Stomp your feet and clap your hands hard 10 times. Spider-Crawl: Pretend to climb a wall for 1 min. Flash Dash: Run in place super fast for 30 sec.
Space Explorer Stretch Quest
Space Explorer Stretch Quest: Pretend you’re an astronaut! Reach for stars with tall stretches, launch with jump squats, and walk on the moon with slow lunges. Have fun!
Animal Movement Adventure
Pretend to be animals! Hop like a frog, crawl like a bear, slither like a snake. Move around the room, imagine a jungle adventure, and have fun staying active!
Jungle Gymnastics Journey
Climb, swing, and balance across the jungle gym like an explorer! Pretend the ground is lava, use monkey bars to swing, walk the balance beam, and slide down to safety. Have fun!
Pirate Treasure Fitness Hunt
Ahoy mateys! Join the Pirate Treasure Fitness Hunt. Follow the map, do fun exercises at each X spot to unlock clues, and find the hidden treasure chest! Arrr!
Circus Skills Balance Circuit
Walk a “tightrope” (tape on floor), balance a beanbag on your head, stand on one foot like a flamingo, and tiptoe across “stepping stones” (paper circles). Fun like circus stars!
Storybook Stretch & Strength Quest
Join a magical adventure! Pretend to be characters from your favorite stories as we stretch like mighty giants and balance like graceful fairies to become strong and flexible!

Using a Choice Board to Differentiate Exercise in a 4th 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 4th Grade Classroom During Exercise (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?