Ms. Ferguson's Blog

Miss Nelson Series

Many of my students will be working on a unit designed around the Miss Nelson series of books by Harry Allard.  The titles are Miss Nelson Is Missing, Miss Nelson Is Back, and Miss Nelson Has a Field Day.  The following links are activities I may use with these stories.

Download Hot On The Trail

Download Field Day comprehension questions & vocab

Download Instant Replay

Download MN is Missing comparing characters

Download Oh No! It's the Swamp!

Download Scenes From Smedley School

Download Miss Nelson Lessons

Breaking News!

The speech room has moved!  I am now in room 111 which is located on the Kindergarten hallway. 

Learn about Mrs. Ferguson

I was born and raised on a dairy farm in Brookfield, Vermont.  Yes, I really do know how to milk a cow!  I have 2 sisters and 1 brother, who all still live in Vermont.  I attended Elmira College in Elmira, New York and earned my bachelors degree in speech and hearing.  I then went to the University of Connecticut (Go Huskies!) where I earned my Masters degree in Communication Sciences.  I moved to Georgia in 2000 with my husband Josh.  He is a police officer with the Cobb County Police.  We have 2 children, 1 cat and 2 dogs.  My hobbies include reading, camping, and gardening.  This is my 7th year working at Ford.

Speech News

It has been a busy start to the school year.  I have enjoyed meeting all my new students and catching up with my "old" students.  I am still working out the last few kinks in my schedule but you should see a letter from me with your child's speech therapy times listed come home this week.  Please take a few minutes to email me so that I will have your email address and so that you can let me know if it is OK to go paperless.  With your permission I will email you communications from me as well as Parent Rights, progress reports, and finalized IEPs.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  I look forward to a great year!

Welcome Back

I am so excited to start the school year.  I am working out the speech schedule and you will see a letter come home from me soon.

Summer Speech Practice

It has been a great year.  I am so proud of all the progress my students have made.  Please encourage your child to practice their speech and langauge skills over the summer.  There are thousands of activities that can enrich speech and langauge skills.  The most meaningful involve an activity or action.  Here are some general suggestions:

1. Have your child pick words from a page in a book that have their sound and read the page. 
2. Make a phone call to a relative and concentrate on using correct sounds.
3. Order at a restaurant/drive through using their best speech.
4. Tell what happened on the latest episode of a favorite TV show – what are the characters, problem, and solution?
5. In the car play “I spy” for things with their sound, also a great way to practice describing.
6. Cook using a simple recipe and explain to a parent or sibling how it was made.
7. Use a camera to take pictures of things that start with (or have) your sound or take pictures of items from a category (flowers, furniture, toys).
8. Visit an educational website and play a game or read a story (see suggestions below)
9. Practice tongue movements in the mirror.
10. Send Mrs Ferguson an email telling about all the fun you are having!

If you prefer more structure you may download daily activities to practice.  Initial the activities you complete and return in August for a special treat!

Download Artic_June.pdf

Download Artic_July.pdf

Download Fluency_June.pdf

Download Fluency_July.pdf

Download Language_June.pdf

Download Language_July.pdf

Here are some websites that target speech and language skills.

http://www.eduplace.com/tales/

madlibs – parts of speech, use only words with your sound!

http://pbskids.org/lions/stories.html

online stories with activities and games to read together good for identifying character, setting, problem, solution – retelling, and practicing articulation sounds while reading.

http://www.quia.com/pages/havemorefun.html

scroll down and see lots of games designed to target different speech sounds

http://www.vocabulary.co.il/

http://www.meddybemps.com/9.600.html

spatial concepts

http://pbskids.org/readingrainbow/bookem/silly_sentence.html

complex sentences, absurdities

http://www.bradleys-english-school.com/online/matchingpairs/index.html

matching game for categories, irregular verbs, homophones, opposites

http://www.funbrain.com/grammar/index.html

identifying parts of speech (nouns, verbs, etc.)

http://www.rif.org/readingplanet/gamestation/poetrysplatter/default.mspx

make poetry- similar to madlibs, practice with nouns verbs and adjectives

http://www.do2learn.com/games/synonymsantonyms/index.htm

synonyms and antonyms – puzzle match up the 2 synonyms/antonyms

http://www.do2learn.com/games/createaroom/index.htm

Have the student describe where to put the furniture in each room good for very basic vocabulary, prepositions, and verbal description

http://www.do2learn.com/games/whatsdifferent/index.htm

id which item does not belong – can work on naming the category and grammar – negatives (it’s not a fruit)

http://pbskids.org/lions/stories.html

online stories with activities and games to read together good for identifying character, setting, problem, solution – retelling, and practicing articulation sounds while reading.

General educational websites

http://www.rif.org/readingplanet/activitylab/default.mspx

http://www.starfall.com/

http://www.seussville.com/

http://www.primarygames.com/

http://www.scholastic.com/kids/games.htm

http://www.meddybemps.com/funandgames.html

http://www.quia.com/pages/havemorefun.html

http://www.bradleys-english-school.com/

It has been a great year.  I am so proud of all the progress my students have made.  Please encourage your child to practice their speech and langauge skills over the summer.  There are thousands of activities that can enrich speech and langauge skills.  The most meaningful involve an activity or action.  Here are some general suggestions:

1. Have your child pick words from a page in a book that have their sound and read the page. 
2. Make a phone call to a relative and concentrate on using correct sounds.
3. Order at a restaurant/drive through using their best speech.
4. Tell what happened on the latest episode of a favorite TV show – what are the characters, problem, and solution?
5. In the car play “I spy” for things with their sound, also a great way to practice describing.
6. Cook using a simple recipe and explain to a parent or sibling how it was made.
7. Use a camera to take pictures of things that start with (or have) your sound or take pictures of items from a category (flowers, furniture, toys).
8. Visit an educational website and play a game or read a story (see suggestions below)
9. Practice tongue movements in the mirror.
10. Send Mrs Ferguson an email telling about all the fun you are having!

If you prefer more structure you may download daily activities to practice.  Initial the activities you complete and return in August for a special treat!

Download Artic_June.pdf

Download Artic_July.pdf

Download Fluency_June.pdf

Download Fluency_July.pdf

Download Language_June.pdf

Download Language_July.pdf

Here are some websites that target speech and language skills.

http://www.eduplace.com/tales/

madlibs – parts of speech, use only words with your sound!

http://pbskids.org/lions/stories.html

online stories with activities and games to read together good for identifying character, setting, problem, solution – retelling, and practicing articulation sounds while reading.

http://www.quia.com/pages/havemorefun.html

scroll down and see lots of games designed to target different speech sounds

http://www.vocabulary.co.il/

http://www.meddybemps.com/9.600.html

spatial concepts

http://pbskids.org/readingrainbow/bookem/silly_sentence.html

complex sentences, absurdities

http://www.bradleys-english-school.com/online/matchingpairs/index.html

matching game for categories, irregular verbs, homophones, opposites

http://www.funbrain.com/grammar/index.html

identifying parts of speech (nouns, verbs, etc.)

http://www.rif.org/readingplanet/gamestation/poetrysplatter/default.mspx

make poetry- similar to madlibs, practice with nouns verbs and adjectives

http://www.do2learn.com/games/synonymsantonyms/index.htm

synonyms and antonyms – puzzle match up the 2 synonyms/antonyms

http://www.do2learn.com/games/createaroom/index.htm

Have the student describe where to put the furniture in each room good for very basic vocabulary, prepositions, and verbal description

http://www.do2learn.com/games/whatsdifferent/index.htm

id which item does not belong – can work on naming the category and grammar – negatives (it’s not a fruit)

http://pbskids.org/lions/stories.html

online stories with activities and games to read together good for identifying character, setting, problem, solution – retelling, and practicing articulation sounds while reading.

General educational websites

http://www.rif.org/readingplanet/activitylab/default.mspx

http://www.starfall.com/

http://www.seussville.com/

http://www.primarygames.com/

http://www.scholastic.com/kids/games.htm

http://www.meddybemps.com/funandgames.html

http://www.quia.com/pages/havemorefun.html

http://www.bradleys-english-school.com/