Ms. Ferguson's Blog

September update

 First, Third, and Fifth graders have been busy at work taking the Cogat and ITBS.  The schools specials and lunch schedule has been altered to accomodate this and your child's speech times may have been affected.  I look forward to getting back on track with all my students next week.  We will be starting a Dinosaur unit in my small group sessions.  Dinosaur names are always full of speech sounds to practice!  We will also begin discussing "things a teacher new to Ford needs to know" and developing a guidebook to help welcome Ms. Jessica Uhl.  She will begin student teaching with me on October 6th and be here until December.  Ms. Uhl is working on her Masters Degree in Speech Language Pathology at the University of Georgia.  Stay tuned for more on Ms. Uhl!

Welcome!

Welcome!

I am so excited to see my speech language students again and welcome all my new students!  I will be working with your child's teacher to develop my schedule.  You will receive a letter from me that will list your child's specific speech-language therapy time.  I am making one big change this year.  My class will be candy free.  I hope to support the nutrition and well being of my students with this change.  I will continue to encourage homework completion with sticker charts to earn a trip to the prize box. 

Learn about Mrs. Ferguson

I was born and raised on a diary 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 6th year working at Ford which means I'll see the students that were in Kindergarten when I started here move on to middle school! 

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/

Welcome Spring

I hope everyone had a restful spring break.  We have a lot to accomplish in the last six weeks of school.  I want to share several strategies I have been using in speech this year. 

SWBS is a graphic organizer that I use to help students summarize or retell a story.  S stands for somebody.  W stands for wants to.  B stands for But and S for So.  Here is a link to see what a filled out SWBS organizer looks like.

Download swbs_example.doc

A definition diagram helps you give a definition for a word.  You begin by answering the following questions:

1.  What is it called

2. what category or group does it belong in?

3.  What does it do? or what do you do with it?

4.  What parts does it have?

5.  What does it look like?

6.  where do you find it?

7.  What does it feel like?

You then plug that information into this shell.

A__(1)______ is a _____(2)______ that ____(3)____.   

It ____(4,5,6,or 7)____ and ____(4,5,6,or 7)___.

Download definition_diagram_example.doc

September 2007

Welcome back to school! 

Speech language therapy is in full swing and most kinks in scheduling have been worked out.  It is very important that your child understand why they come to speech and how important it is to communicate effectively. 

Our essential  questions for speech are: 

1.  Why do I come to speech?

3.  When do I come to speech?

2.  What is my sound? or What am I working on?

If your child is working on articulation it is very important for them to practice with you frequently.  All students should put speech homework in with all other class homework and students in grades 3-5 will write it in their agenda.  It may be returned the next day they have speech. 

Tips for helping with speech homework:

1.  Ask your child to explain what they are to do - remind them to use their best speech

2.  Ask what sound or skill they are working on.  Then ask them to tell you how to make the sound correctly

3.  Let the practice begin!  If you hear an error ask your child to try it again.  If they continue to have trouble with a specific word make a note of it and I'll work with them on it at their next session.

4.  Sign and date.  Students are encouraged to practice the same words/work as many times as possible between sessions.  They will earn a sticker on their homework chart for each different day they have practiced.

For more information on how different sounds are produced and cues to help you child please visit

http://www.kspeech.org/articles/detail.cfm?TextID=59

For a few activities to promote language skills while riding in the car please visit

http://www.kspeech.org/articles/detail.cfm?TextID=56