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Who invented Pre 1 A?
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gp2.0




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 4:21 am
I'm so curious about this. In the U.S., the school grade for age 4-5 is Pre-K and the grade for age 5-6 is K or Kindergarten.

In Jewish schools, the grade for age 4-5 is kindergarten. And the grade for age 5-6 is Pre 1 A.

So who invented pre 1 A and why? Smile
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Iymnok




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 4:23 am
I think that's New York schools, I never heard it elsewhere.
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rosenbal




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 4:25 am
And apparently in Lakewood it's called "Primary"...just to add to the general confusion!
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bradybunch




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 4:38 am
It's a New York thing and it makes no sense. Where is the A coming from? I've always thought it was weird...but I'm not from New York!
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amother
Aqua


 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 4:46 am
my mother said she thinks it had to do with getting funding for bussing...
We didn't have pre-1a but we didn't live in Brooklyn LOL!
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saw50st8




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 5:22 am
My kids are in a Jewish school where Kindergarten is the year before first grade
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mommyla




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 5:34 am
There absolutely is pre1-A outside of New York. I think it's a Jewish thing rather than a NY thing.
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nylon




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 5:45 am
It did begin as a New York thing--in fact, I believe it dates to the NYC Public Schools (and I could have sworn Wikipedia used to mention this but it no longer does). I forget how the structure worked, but classes used to be divided into A and B in the NYC schools or so I was told.

Pre-1A is much less common outside of NYC than there. Even on Long Island, not all the schools have Pre-1A (my experience is with the MO schools and they don't, to my knowledge). Schools outside NYC that have pre-1A have imported it from there.
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animeme




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 6:03 am
http://www.imamother.com/forum.....31358
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Rubber Ducky




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 6:11 am
bradybunch wrote:
... Where is the A coming from?...


In the ancient days in public schools in Los Angeles, there were 2 possible times for beginning a grade each year, one in the fall semester and one beginning in the spring semester. It was based on what month you were born. The younger class in any grade was "A" and the older class was "B." So you started in 1A, then the next semester you would be in 1B, then 2A, then 2B, etc.

I went to school in Los Angeles, not New York, and the 2-starts per year was discontinued when I was in Jr High, but the "A" in "pre-1A" may derive from this practice.
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m in Israel




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 8:02 am
Rubber Ducky wrote:
In the ancient days in public schools in Los Angeles, there were 2 possible times for beginning a grade each year, one in the fall semester and one beginning in the spring semester. It was based on what month you were born. The younger class in any grade was "A" and the older class was "B." So you started in 1A, then the next semester you would be in 1B, then 2A, then 2B, etc.

I went to school in Los Angeles, not New York, and the 2-starts per year was discontinued when I was in Jr High, but the "A" in "pre-1A" may derive from this practice.


NYC public schools actually categorizes teachers "longevity" by half years as well, using the same concept. You go up one salary "step" in Feb. and one in Sept. So someone who is in March of their 2nd year as a teacher would be on salary step "2B". I wouldn't be surprised if you are right and that is the source of the "1A" concept.

But as other posters have said, this is not a "Jewish" thing -- it is a "Jewish NY" thing, that may have spread to other communities with a large former NYer presence. In most Jewish schools outside of the NY are the year before 1st is Kindergarten.
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observer




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 9:43 am
Yes, as others mentioned, 1A was starting first grade in september, so the year before that was pre-1a. If you started at the halfway mark, as was common then, it was 1b. For some reason, this stuck in the jewish schools, although now many schools are changing to make it less confusing. Many jewish ny area schools now call it Pre-K, Kindergarten, then first grade. Lakewood calls pre1a primary.
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mha3484




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 10:07 am
In chicago, the right wing school calls it K for the girls and pre one A for the boys.
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Lydia




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 11:02 am
Add to the confusion: At least one school in Chicago calls Pre1-A also Kita Alef. That makes 1st grade Kita Bais, etc. They refer to the grades by both names! Argh!!
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amother
cornflower


 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 12:19 pm
Lydia wrote:
Add to the confusion: At least one school in Chicago calls Pre1-A also Kita Alef. That makes 1st grade Kita Bais, etc. They refer to the grades by both names! Argh!!


All the chassidishe boy schools in NY call it Kita aleph only (or mechina). And then the last grade in cheder is kita tes not ches.
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gp2.0




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 12:32 pm
Wow thanks for the answers! I've been wondering about this for ages. Very Happy
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zaq




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 2:08 pm
Whoever invented it should be shot. For decades, the year before grade 1 was Kindergarten and the year before that was nursery, and in fancy schools with two years of nursery, there was 4-y/o nursery and 3-y/o nursery. The system was clear and it worked. Why they had to mess it up with this Pre-1A nonsense is beyond my ken. The schools don't even HAVE a class that starts mid-year, so there is no "B" class. In my school, there was K-1. K-2 and K-3 because there were 3 kindergarten classes, the way there was Class 1-1, 1-2, and 1-3 and so on up the line. Clear, logical, no confusion. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
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nicole81




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 2:15 pm
pre-1a has its own wikipedia page (not that it sheds any light on the matter...) I especially love the vitality section... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-1A
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mommy3b2c




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 2:32 pm
amother wrote:
All the chassidishe boy schools in NY call it Kita aleph only (or mechina). And then the last grade in cheder is kita tes not ches.


It drives me crazy that they do that. The reason is because it used to be called Kita aleph-bais, and then for some reason theyvdropped the bais. My sons rebbe still calls it kita aleph-bais
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cbsp




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jun 11 2015, 5:03 pm
zaq wrote:
Whoever invented it should be shot. For decades, the year before grade 1 was Kindergarten and the year before that was nursery... If it ain't broke don't fix it.


Ummm, I'm 41 from Boro park and I went to pre-1A "decades" ago. I don't think it's a newfangled invention. I vaguely recall the public schools having a pre-1A then as well, but my memory is hazy about that.

Having said that, now that I have to deal with secular entities (BOE, doctors) I now just refer to it as "the grade before first" because it's called pre-1A in my DD school here in Passaic.

Anyone know where Primary in Lakewood comes from? Anyone know where Primer in Elizabeth (JEC?) comes from?
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