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.

i used to work in a very good pre school and they used to sit down with every new member of staff and teach them how to form letters correctly so the everything in the setting looked the same as we weren't allowed to display typed work! even down to guidlines (actual guidelines on the paper!) showing how high/low tails and bits should be.

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YABU

Obviously you are totally up to date with current teaching methods but unfortunately some fuck-wits think it is better to be hard or funny or win everything without learning how to improve.

Whilst we still live in Labours overhang you will find the lowest common denominator catered for in every way. However this simple note is to inform you of your child is going to be taught how to write and to aid you in helping them.

What's the problem with that ?

I think YAB a bit U but a lot depends on the general tone of the letter. Your DC is not the only one in the class and teachers send these notes to everyone.

As far as teaching cursive later on, I think it's far more important to emphasise how the pen or pencil is held than any particular direction to follow when printing individual letters. No-one is going to be writing joined-on capitals after all.

I have one lefty (the youngest of 5) and she was taught to write in exactly the same way the rest of them were. Her handwriting is now very neat and legible after a wobbly start.

For heaven's sake! Teachers just can't do anything right, can they! If they don't give out clear instructions on how to do homework, there will be just as many people complaining that they don't get enough guidance yada yada yada.

What do you expect? Should every teacher have to waste their precious time to personally test the handwriting and reading ability of every parent to assess their ability to effectively assist with homework, so as not to inadvertently 'patronize' some overly sensitive, uptight parent who thinks they are above being told? Or is it more time efficient to just pass on the same info to everyone, and hope that they have the good sense to realize that it isn't a personal insult.

I haven't read all this thread but think the OP probably has the message that the consesus is that she is being unreasonable and I couldn't agree more. Good post salizchap.

Thank you Feenie

YABU, dh teaches undergrads but he is left handed and at school was never taught how to form letters correctly. As a result his handwriting is appalling.

He was very grateful when a similar sheet came home and also when dd was struggling with handwriting went into school to discuss it as he didn;t want her to end up like him.

But I would (and have) complain about the worksheet coming from Sparklebox.

The dc's school didn't know about the conviction or how visitingthe site profited him until I explained about it.

Having the arrows directing which way to form the letters helps children when they progress onto joining their letters,also teachers sometimes put the names on the letters of children in case letters get left behind in class or children are away,we had a phonics workshop in our school and most of the parents found it very helpful,as some hadn't learnt phonics at school or had forgotten them, as a previous poster had said if you don't want the info just bin it and don't attend the workshop!

YABVU.

Why would you take such a defensive attitude towards someone who is actually trying to help your child learn?

YABVU- Standard practice and helpful, not patronising. Why on earth get so arsey about this? IF children don't begin letters in the correct place and form them correctly it makes it far, far harder for them to join letters later. Also I found it really helpful having that info as it helped me to discuss with ds why he was finding some letters hard etc.
Feel so sorry for poor teachers who can't do right for doing wrong.
Do you have some kind of inferiority complex OP? I can't imagine why else get so het up about this.

YABU

Untwist your knickers and move on.

when at a phonics session at dds school, i would say most parents sounded wrong ie pu instead of p nu instead of n etc.

it is far better to assume everyone start from scratch as alot of parents may not know how to correctly form letters and sounds.

i dont see what is so partonising.

YABU

DD has started to write and I have checked with nursery about how they describe letters.

For example, DH and I were telling DD that an 'a' was a circle with a tail - however, upon checking with nursery, they said 'a' was a circle with a stick and 'g' was a circle with a tail. There were also differences with how they described the letter 't'.

I'm glad I checked because I think the consistency is important.

Also I do my 'a's like they appear on here and have to really consciously remember to do them the 'proper' writing way when working with DD.

I don't think I have ever seen a AIBU on MN with such a high level of agreement!

Guess what, OP? Yabvvu! :)

Can I ask which do you think is the best way to teach dd, cursive or standard?

YABU. The school is trying to be helpful and to ensure that parents do not teach the children an opposing method that would confuse the child.

Also should I only teach lower case?

YANBU!

I would find that incredibly patronising and would send the teacher a handwritten letter in my bestest joined-up writing (in fountain pen no less!) telling her exactly that!

seems that dd is taught standard and once they have grasped how to proberly form a letter then cursive is introduced end of r/yr1.

however dn was taught cursive from the onset a few years ago, methods seem to differ from year to year.

YANBU - at my daughter's reception class they wouldn't let her have a reading book (she could already read) because she had to learn to "hold it correctly, understand how to turn the pages" etc .

YABU . The teacher doesn't know you and how incredibly clever and knowledgeable you are about EY

It's reasonable to expect teachers to know your child's level of literacy and handwriting and differentiate work for them.

It's not reasonable to expect teachers to know all parents' level of literacy and handwriting and differentiate information sheets for them.

I am left handed both my children right handed, I form letters in a different way to them sometimes so It was good to see how the school wanted to teach them.