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.

You have to write a certain way, otherwise your children can't read it. Simple as that!

Not all parents have English as a first language either and may have grown up with an entirely different alphabet. Some parents (no matter how educated) are keen to follow the schools direction in how things should be taught.

Lovelyopaque just about to say the exact same thing. Even people on the continent, who use the same script as us, write some of their letters differently to us.

YABU. Also, some parents complain that there isn't enough communication, others think there's too much...what is the school to do? If you don't like it, chuck it. I doubt they thought "This is a subtle hint for Moogster, who clearly doesn't know how to write". It's not personal

YABU - this has been standard practice at nursery since my dc were little, for several years. It is important that they are taught with consistency.

Agree with lovelyopaque. Parents who have come to this country may have good English, but they have learned this, in a lot of cases, from books or by listening to English speakers. I know a very intelligent and literate Eastern European person who claims to have learned English here by watching television with the (English) subtitles on. Especially Eastenders .

If they come from an Oriental or Arabic culture, they may not necessarily know how to form letters and words in the conventional manner. For example, with the letter "b" you start with the long down stroke and then add the rounded part of the letter. It's the opposite way with a "d". For somebody not used to English characters, this is not obvious.

Sorry but you sound like a total idiot. I think your child's teacher is providing you with some very helpful aids.

Of course people write letters in different ways - just look at the vast differences in handwriting and it is much easier for children if they are taught the same way consistently. I'm lucky the way I was taught to write (nelson handwriting!) is still current.

However phonics didn't exist when I was learning to read and I find it very difficult to help children with their reading and would welcome a phonics workshop.

Some parents (no matter how educated) are keen to follow the schools direction in how things should be taught.

True, opaque. And someare on the lookout for things to criticise

As a lefty, I form lots of letters wrong! My handwriting is fine, but I've bought a handwriting workbook for DD to do with me because I know I can't be trusted with my odd methods (which do work, but will be confusing for her).

Agree Jamie. I do wonder why some parents aren't teachers themselves - that way they could ensure that everything was done correctly and to their high standards, thereby ensuring that no parent would ever have cause to question

Late to this thread, but YABVU. I imagine this is a sheet detailing the formation of cursive letters - something which I had to practise quite a bit in order to help my dds.

Writing in the cursive style is tricky at first and your dc will need all the help from home he can get! I think it's lovely that the playgroup is being so proactive in its support of proactive parents!

YABU. Perhaps some parents in your child's class would be grateful the teacher had sent home a sheet explaining what they were doing & how they could help the kids.

If you already know how they're being taught/what they're doing, good for you, put the sheet in your re-cycling bin and don't be offended the teacher has tried to treat all her class (and their parents) equally.