to think this is the most patronising school shite yet

[moogster1a]

My ds came home from nursery with a sheet of printed letters of the alphabet. I assumed it was for him to copy, but no. There was a letter attached explaining it was for parents' info. to show how they write the letters. each letter had a helpful arrow on it " to demonstrate how at nursery they begin to write the letter". I assume in case I write letters upside down or begin from the middle of the "W" and work outwards for instance.
Also "for my reference" she had written the initial letter of ds's name in the corner.This had extra arrows to show in what order the lines of the letter "H" should be tackled. In case I've forgotten what I called him or what his name begins with; or how the fuck to write it?
She "hopes this helps so we are all writing in the same way when helping our dc ".
AIBU to think patronising cow? I am of course going to thank her on Monday for her helpful advice as otherwise I would never have been able to form the letters of the alphabet by myself.

YABU. DS is being taught to write some letters differently to the way I write. Also, people educated in different countries will write letters in a different manner.

Sounds like she is being helpful tbh.

After many years of writing I´m sure we don´t all form letters correctly all of the time.

And yes, some letters, "c" for example are obvious, but it would be standard to show the whole alphabet, on the sheet, rather than a few letters.

Actually I would find this quite useful - a lot of schools teach joined up writing from the start (including my dds) I moved round lots of primary schools as a child and managed to miss being taught joined up letters so I write entirely in 'print'. Yes there are obvious ones but still I'm very keen for my dd's to learn to write properly so any help would be welcomed. So imo yabu

YABU, it's much easier to teach them how to form letters correctly in the first place than to try and undo incorrect formations later, when they have to join.
Is this how you are going to reach to every bit of helpful information sent home? You are going to be a real PITA parent.

Please don't teach him to write his name in capitals either.

YABU. Not all parents will be as in the know and as confident as you. Not all parents would even think to practice letter formation or name writing with their dc.

You could just tell her how you feel, and that you don't want any advice sent home on how to help your child because you know best.
It will save on paper.

A rare and beautiful thing. Agreement on AIBU

op you sound well arsey! I have seen some people form their letters in very odd ways, and seen plenty of adults who were BARLEY literate.

I think you have a bee in your bonnet about nothing, the teacher is doing her job and involving parents, you should be happy.

I must say I was a bit when I go t my sheet but I do form letters very differently and it did help me.

I was told off by DD1 's teacher because when she strted nursery, DD1 could write all the letters in alphabetical order but in CAPITAL, I felt like a criminal!

I think the intent was helpful.

The teacher wants to ensure that the children are not learning two different ways so helpfully passes that info to the parents. You may not need it but others will - the teacher cannot write only to the thicko parents and ignore the super-duper clever parents. Just imagine if she put you in the wrong group!

And once you concede that she must write to all, try and construct such a letter in a way that does not sound patronizing. Not really possible.

Tis beautiful pure purple. I could have saved my x- posted addition.....

YABU. You are lucky to have a teacher/ school that keeps you informed about what they are teaching your child and how to help them. If this is the biggest thing you have to complain about when it comes to school, I think they are doing a great job.

Why would I teach him to write in capitals? Unless it's the first letter of his name etc. ( which I now know after obviously being ignorant of it for the last 3 years).

moogster1a
I have seen dozens of children who learn to write in capitals. It is very, very common.

Ok, message received that I'm being a bit uppity!
I'll fight the urge to make a sarky comment on Monday!

OP. you're the one married to an idle shit of a teacher who doesn't do any work in the holidays or after 4pm, aren't you?
And you're a childminder or something to do with EY?
So because you think you know what you're doing with a nursery child, you feel patronised by not having that expertise recognised?
Have you considered home education, because it sounds as if you both have enough time on your hands and a lot of anger already directed at the system.

Can somebody tell me why it matters which way you write a letter providing the result is neat, legible handwriting?

I've no idea tyzer. Maybe it's something to do with flow, preparation for learning cursive? In DS's case his handwriting isn't neat or legible which is why I looked into it. If it had have been neat/legible then I would just let him carry on despite the advice.

I'd like to know the answer too btw.

moogster1a, I do not know about OP but for me it simply was that DD had an easel with numbers from 1 to 10 and the alphabet in capital letter at the bottom I was no trying to "corrupt her" like I was pretty much told I had done

Print to cursive works more efficiently if the letters are formed correctly in the first place.
If the child is in Y5/6 and has poor or inaccurate letter formation, when they are writing a side of A4 at speed, they end up with hand cramps if they haven't developed the ability to write fluently. They also write much more slowly.

No Goblin, I'm the one married to a well organised teacher which is why he doesn't do work in the holidays.
I felt patronised as an adult, not someone with any experience in EY education.
I'd feel the same way if someone gave an adult written instructions in how to teach their child to use cutlery ( I'll duck back below the parapet as people tell me how they didn't use knives and forks 'til they were 37 and need help showing their kids ).

My DS liked to write in capitals because he learnt all his initial phonics from car number plates.

It is important to form letters correctly when a child starts handwriting otherwise it will be very difficult to then teach 'joined writing'.

Legible joined script relies on letters beginning and starting in a certain place in order for the joins to be made.

Most adults do it automatically but a child won't.

FWIW we had that sheet sent home. I don't think it's anything to get steamed up over. They want to make sure that all kids are writing their letters the same way in preparation for joined up.

Teachers can have a patronising manner, but don't take it personally.

Everyone's hand writing changes over time. It is not a case that adults haven't learnt properly initially. But many have acquired bad habits but don't realise it.

Plus children do things differently and unless you are paying close attention it could easily be missed.