June 6, 2005
What in the world is Pre-1A?
My son is in kindergarten. That is, last year he was in four-year old nursery, next year he will be in first grade. So, as far as I can tell, he's in kindergarten. In TA, and various other institutions of Jewish education, the kindergarten year is called Pre-1A. Try as I might, I have been unable to discern the origin or purpose of this arcane nomenclature. And today I saw Gil wrote that Pre-1A was, "between kindergarten and first grade," which only increased the confusion, since, as far as I can tell, that's summer camp.
My original theory was that somewhere in the annals of Jewish history, there was a school that had a classroom labeled "1A" for the youngest students. One year, they decided to have a class of even younger students, you apparently met in an unlabeled classrom. They were dubbed "Pre-1A." And then everyone in the world followed suit.
If anyone can shed light on this, I will be forever in your debt.
