Classroom variety for little kids?

I found this week's article (AKA Chapter 8 "Verifying Instructional Variety") to be very interesting. If makes sense, of course, that employing a variety of project types, teaching styles, et cetera will keep students alert and on their proverbial toes. Additionally, the more variety in teaching methods a teacher uses the more likely he is to hit on the different learning styles of his students, even if accidentally. However, I would bet that the variety called for in the article is harder to achieve than one would predict.

Over the last couple months in this course, I have observed multiple classes of young children (3rd grade and below). Some of these classes incorporate variety deep in their design, like SEEC and SWS. Specifically, SEEC is rooted in learning through 'choice time' when student gets to choose from stations of activities to help them learn tactically, visually, kinesthetically, etc. Each day the student gets to participate in a variety of learning-inspired activities. Yet, as I mentioned in my previous blog entries, there was much misbehavior during the varied activity times.

Of course, multiple factors contribute to students' behavior, and the open-learning style cannot be blamed for the pandemonium. My point is more that, contradictory to the article, variety in learning activities does not necessarily eliminate misbehavior. I believe the problem at SEEC lies lies in a misnomer; the children get to choose from a variety of activities each day, and because it happens each day, the various activities actually prevent the instructional variety called for in this article. Simply put, the same format every day, even if disguised, isn't variety. The SEEC students were used to choice time. The novelty had worn off, and now that block of time was just another place to goof around.

Does this mean a teacher must plan for variety within their variety? SEEC instructors should mix choice time with choice-free days so that students learn to appreciate both? I do agree with the ideas presented in this article, but I think they are a lot more to expect from a elementary teacher than a high school teacher. Is there an easier way for elementary school instructors?