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. My handwriting is so appalling that I had remedial handwriting classes throughout school. I have to concentrate hard to make my writing legible.

If I ever get one of those sheets I will probably send the teacher a thank you note!

Do you think a teacher would have felt patronised by being sent home advice?
I never have, I've just thought that people were trying to create an efficient partnership between home and school, and ensuring that parents knew what was going on learning-wise.

YABU - not every parent will know the correct way to form each letter. Do you think other parents should be denied the opportunity to learn this, just to protect your tender feelings? Or would you prefer the teacher to take a quick look around the parents, guess which ones might not have great handwriting skills, and only send the sheet to them?

That would be truly patronising wouldn't it? And no doubt you'd moan then that your child was left out!!

I agree Goblinchild. Although I am a teacher myself I am grateful for everything the school sends home for my DS. It shows me what he is learning. I don't feel patronised though. Good communication between parents and school is vital.

Good letter formation and using cutlery is not the same thing IMO.

Don't forget some parents (like a good friend of mine) struggle to read and write themselves.

My friend is desperate not to hold her son back but far too embarrassed to ask for help/tell people her own difficulties, which are substantial ie she cannot spell basic words. She has never sent a text message (shock horror!)

A sheet like this would really really help her.

If cluttermountain is still about, just wanted to let her know that you can get these sheets for left handed children. Dd struggled until we changed schools when she was 7 and the new school gave her a left handed letter sheet, her writing has come on in leaps and bounds.
I never knew they existed.
(apologies if someone has already mentioned these)

YABU,

It's not just about being illiterate or less-educated. People can have many degrees etc and still have entirely individual hand writing.

Which for a school child would be incorrect.

"entirely individual hand writing."

Oh I like that.

I´ll use that phrase on my husband when he´s struggling to read what I write

. My father has fabulously exuberant hand-writing.

Dh is neat as anything, he hates my form filling! And redoes it

YABU

Children are taught in a particular way and it makes school life easier if they know what is expected.

FWIW my DC school sent home a sheet, and the letter formations do differ from how I was taught.

And phonics - sounds helpful. I had no idea what phonics were until my eldest started school..

I put a stroke through my z, and always do "curly" x (too much algebra). So while I can only think of one way to write an "I" there are different ways to write some letters.

Thank you faverolles and earlyonemorning. I think I will talk again to the teacher re left handedness. Think he is trying right handed formation. When I suggested to year 1 teacher his writing might be difficult for him as a left hander she was quite dismissive. Maybe coincidental but ds reading level significantly better than his writing. He is in year 1. Different thread maybe but my left hander bit clumsy and gets into trouble for that. Sometimes I honestly think he can't help it and when he falls off his chair etc not being naughty.. Sorry... back to handwriting!

My son is 17 and I got one of those when he was 4 and just started Reception class, it makes sense because we do not all write the same.

I cannot see how it is patronising at all.

Just showing you the right way to teach your child how to write letters.

YABU. There are different ways to writing all letters and it is harder to reteach a child the correct way to write a letter when they have been taught it the wrong way than to teach it from scratch. It is also VERY common for parents to teach there children to write their names in capitals ect. I worked in a Reception class for 8 years, ds1's class teacher knows this but we have been invited to a reading workshop, something I did most days in my job, but I am not insulted and will attend, happily. It is also worth bearing in mind that there are also a few letters that can be formed differently, depending on the school writing policy (2 letters that spring to mind are the lower case f and k, also x I think).
Not everyone will know the correct way to form the letters so sending out a letter to everyone is the fairest way to do it.

YABVU. Of course it is vital that DCs form their letters correctly from the beginning and lots of adults don't. (You only have to see many examples of doctor's handwriting!)
I can imagine the outcry if the teacher sent a letter home to Lucy's mum because she thinks she doesn't understand, but doesn't give one to Ruby's mum because she is a 'clever' woman!!!

YABU for all the reasons above.

And you should appreciate a teacher who is working hard to ensure your child gets off to a good start.

I am sure plenty if early years teachers with children in pre school receive this advice with a thankyou and a smile, even though they already know what to do.

I am literate and fairly well educated but do appreciate guidance from teachers about helping my child at home.

YABU, handwriting is such a complex skill, part being 'muscle memory' (when we 'automatically' form the letter, without consciously thinking about it). Once a formation is learned, it is very difficult to undo, hence a school/nursery wishing to embed the correct formation from the start.

Tyzer 'does it matter how its formed?' - yes because if e.g. your 'o' is clockwise not anticlockwise it's a bugger to join fluently.

I'm a reception teacher. I give out a sheet too, I didn't think it would be seen as patronising. Maybe the actual problem is the lack of communication as to why it's important.

yabu.

They write the b, s, f and r different from how I was taught.

Sometimes letters like this are written to share with children, making it easier for them (not necessarily you) to understand. I'd rather information like this than nothing at all.

Op I wonder if yur child goes to the school mine did. We had the same.
I was grateful for the sheet, although literate as the way they seem to be teaching directions and suchlike do appear to be different from the way I was taught many years ago. All this clockwise and down to up business (or is it the other way?) was quite new to me. I have a semi print, semi cursive style now so it was good to be reminded of first principles.

The phonics workshop was populated by the better educated parents, none of whom complained I might add.

Don't get upset, OP - your DS' nursery is quite right to encourage parents to show DCs how to form their letters in a uniform way.

FWIW, I held off teaching my DD how to write as we live in France and French cursive handwriting is a skill I do not possess! I was right to leave it all up to school as she now writes beautiful cursive with no interference from "English" style handwriting. Some children carry on being confused for years.

YABU and ungrateful

YABU. it is really important to get children writing letters correctly from the start as it's very hard to undo. And of course lefties need specific help to do it 'backwards'.

Not everyone knows how to do it!

My mum got DD some posters recently and one of them was letter formation as you describe - did I have a go at her for giving me what I already know?

No. I thanked her for buying us a useful educational tool.

FFS.