A Spelling Lesson Plan for the Creative Teacher
Differentiated Instruction: Elementary Language Arts
Lisa Simoncelli-Bulak, 2001 Golden Apple Scholar
This month’s Best Practice resource is a successful lesson plan for teaching spelling to 4th Graders with various learning styles. 2001 Golden Apple Scholar, Lisa Simoncelli-Bulak, presents her much loved spelling menu from Simoncelli’s restaurant. Lisa got the idea from differentiation and learning "menus."
She says: “I just took the idea literally and made an actual menu. Since I am of Italian heritage, I decided to make my restaurant, Simoncelli's, have an Italian theme. However, teachers of Mexican, Cuban, and Irish descent have made menus of their heritage. This is probably appropriate for a 3-5th grade range, but has been adapted by first and second grade teachers at my school as well. (They just deleted a lot of the activities).
"I bought a program called ‘Art Explosion’ and used its clip art. As for the actual content, most of it is common teacher knowledge of different ways to practice your spelling words. I just took all of those ways and organized them into a spelling menu. I then provided several options for developing critical thinking skills.”
Download PDF: Teacher Directions for the Spelling Menu >
Download PDF: Simoncelli's Spelling Menu >
2001 Golden Apple Scholar, Lisa Simoncelli-Bulak, graduated from the Honors Program at Concordia University, with a BA in Elementary Education and a Middle School Endorsement, where she earned a Presidential Scholarship and Kappa Delta Pi membership. In 2009, she received her Type 75 Certificate and a Masters in Educational Leadership from Aurora University.
She has taught at Westdale Elementary in Northlake, IL since 2005, where she uses her technology expertise to conduct SMARTBOARD training sessions to staff members. She has also helped local school districts implement Scholastic’s READ 180 reading intervention program for struggling readers.
Currently, Lisa also is a presenter for Golden Apple scholars at St. Xavier and Concordia Universities.