Summer Assignments - AP, IB, and Honors Courses - Saddleback Valley Unified School District

AP World History

AP World History Summer Reading Assignment

World History the Basics by Peter N. Stearns

The goal of this assignment is to expose students to a condensed and synthesized preview of AP World History. Due to the rigor and pacing of this course, MVHS AP World instructors found it beneficial for students to be exposed to a general overview of the curriculum over the summer break. An incoming student of World History should first and foremost understand why the study of history is a necessity. In addition students will be exposed to a new form of understanding history through the context of thematic learning as opposed to a strictly linear timeline. Due to the vast landscape we will be exploring during the coming year in AP World History we have to understand, and recognize patterns within the various time periods that we will be investigating.

Chapter 1:Introduction: What and Why is World History?

Students should identify the author’s main argument and supporting rationale regarding the importance of studying world history.
Be able to support, modify, or refute the author’s point of view.

Chapter 2: A World History Skeleton

Students should have a basic understanding of how the author characterizes major time periods and eras in world history.
Make note of how the author builds upon the discussion of varying historical time periods in the chapters that follow.
Compare these concepts to the College Board Historical Periods chart included on page 2.

Historical Periods (directly from the College Board)

The historical periods, from approximately 8000 B.C.E. to the present, provide a temporal framework for the course.

The instructional importance and assessment weighting for each period varies.

Period	Period Title	Date Range	Weight
1	Technological and Environmental Transformations	to c. 600 B.C.E.	5%
2	Organization and Reorganization of Human Societies	c. 600 B.C.E. to c. 600 C.E.	15%
3	Regional and Interregional Interactions	c. 600 C.E. to c. 1450	20%
4	Global Interactions	c. 1450 to c. 1750	20%
5	Industrialization and Global Integration	c. 1750 to c. 1900	20%
6	Accelerating Global Change and Realignments	c. 1900 to the Present	20%

The remaining chapters discuss topics such as geographic regions, civilizations, themes, and disputes in world history. Students should also utilize this work to begin to understand the AP History Reasoning Skills and Disciplinary Practices as outlined by the College Board below.

Sample AP History Reasoning Skills

Sample AP History Disciplinary Practices

Students are highly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the College Board’s Website where students can find information about the Course Exam Description, Course Overview, and Practice Exams.

AP English 2 Language and Composition

AP English 3 Literature

English 4

9th Grade English Honors

Letter in Incoming Students and Parents

Dear incoming English 1 Honors students and their parents:

It is a policy at Mission Viejo High School to have all students enrolled in honors English complete assigned summer reading so that rigorous writing and discussion can begin as soon as school starts in the fall. Through summer reading, we hope to instill the idea that reading novels closely is a major part of being in honors English. Novels should not merely be skimmed and finished as quickly as possible, but rather we hope students will come to see close, critical reading as an interactive process. Moreover, students will be encouraged, but not required, to purchase their novels in order to allow them to highlight important passages and to take notes in the margins. No new texts (other than summer reading) will be needed right at the beginning of next year, so, for now, just focus on getting the one summer reading book, and we will then supply students with the regular reading list (and purchasing options) at the beginning of next year. We do understand that, for some, purchasing books is not financially practical, so please understand that students will not be penalized if they have to check books out from the library.

This summer, incoming ninth grade honors students are being asked to purchase and read How to Read Literature Like a Professor for Kids by Thomas C. Foster (ISBN 9780062200853). Last year we tried the “adult” version of the text, but students found it a little too inaccessible, so we’ve switched to this version.

In addition to How to Read…, we are asking that students read five short stories: “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, “Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. Copies of these stories can easily be found on the internet by typing in the story/author name and “text”; however, we have run into a few issues with students finding a fragment/abridged version of the text, and in some cases (“Cask”) students have used a modern translation, so your best bet is to go to Mr. Lohmeier’s website and download the copies from there. You can also find Mr. Lohmeier’s website through the SVUSD homepage. We would encourage students to print up copies of these stories and make notes in the margins.

Finally, we are asking students to use the information from How to Read... to do some analysis of the short stories. Students are asked take 4 concepts from How to Read… and apply them to any of the four short stories. They can use the same concept/chapter more than once, but they should at least try to consider different possibilities before settling on the obvious. On the second day of school, students will turn in a typed list of their 4 examples. Each example will include a brief explanation of the concept from How to Read…(1 sentence), and then a 3-4 sentence explanation of how that idea can be applied to an event in one of the short stories. So, for example, Chapter 2 in How to Read… is about eating meals and “communion.” A couple of the stories include characters sharing food and/or drink. How does the student understand the scene(s) differently based on their new understanding about the significance of sharing food?

Students should be able to do the reading in about 2-3 weeks, and we encourage students to read toward the end of summer so that they will have maximum retention. In addition to the assignment from above, students will be tested on all of the works in the first few days of class. We hope that you have an enjoyable summer as you embark on a new and exciting phase of your academic career.

Yours truly,
Patrick Lohmeier

Chemistry Honors

French 5 HL2 (higher level IB)

Humanities

IB Biology

Formal IA Lab

Topic: Plant Science

Must be able to be completed on your own time.
You must collect data that you can graph…and be able to perform some statistical analysis….
Formal IB write-up is due to me by September 6, 2019

You are pretty free in terms of this IA. Think about the information you have covered in the plant unit with Mrs. Miller. What are you curious about?

Didn’t take AP Bio last year…look at the plant section on Mrs. Beaman’s IB Bio website . You will be responsible for all the plant information on the site.

Do not wait until the last minute to begin this project. You must allow time for the plants to grow and then ample time for your experiment (at least 2 weeks of measurements not including if your plants die).

Death is not allowed. Make sure you do your research and know if your variables are viable. If your plants die you need to start over and narrow your experiment to allow for success.

All the information you need to successfully write-up your lab results is found on the front page of my website at www.saddlespace.org/beamana

Please do not hesitate to email me over the summer with questions/concerns at beamana@svusd.org

Labs are worth 100 pts and 25% of your total IB grade.

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