Stumped by Sudha AND "M" for Mommy went back to basics

I'm just so stumped about Sudha. Her teacher says she hardly responds to anything in class and doesn't follow instructions at the first instance. At home, I have no such issues. She will follow multi-level directions, is very helpful and talks a ton. She even has so much fun in other classes at school like Ballet, Music and Spanish.

I'm beginning to think she gets turned off by the strictness and structure that is class, the emphasis on learning and worksheets (although she does worksheets at home). I've started working with her 2-3 days a week; letting her do whatever she wants. She could write her name or do worksheets or colour sheets or paint on the easel or play games or puzzles or ... - just to get her used to the idea of "working" with me for 15-20 minutes a day in study or play form.

I don't expect anything of her at age 4, I want her to have fun. But .. if she truly has a problem with people telling her to do her work, then I'd rather look for techniques to get around it now than when she's in middle school.

This is what we did today - the letter "M". There are 2 coloring sheets with the words M. And one matching game with putting the uppercase M and lowercase m in the right places. I'd almost not wanted to do this, I thought it was way too easy for her. But I was surprised that in her haste to paste things, she was not always paying attention to which case M she was handling.

She also "needs" to know how to write her name by the end of the year. She can write all the letters separately, but doesn't know the sequence of letters. My idea was to jumble up cut letters and have her arrange it correctly everytime to spell her name. I'm also trying to think of someother way to reinforce this other than rote learning to spell.

The M with Mouse, Monkey, Mushroom and Milk is from Crayola.
The M for Moon colouring page is from here.
The M & m sorting game was one among this awesome list from Confessions of a homeschooler.