Summer Assignment for AP BIOLOGY

ALL WORK is DUE the first Day of school 2012/2013 School Year (Regardless of what period you have the class, which is probably going to be period 6. Drop this off DAY 1) - NO EXCEPTIONS.

All work is to be done by individual students. There is no “group-work” for this.

I know that it may be tempting to divide the work, and email the answers to each other, but it will not be worth the consequences. I Every student involved will receive Zeros. Use the following checklist to guide you through your summer assignments:

1) Graphing Packet. You must answer every question and draw every graph requested. When a question asks you to "describe what the graph shows," look at the overall picture and trends, not just the apex/highest point. Making and interpreting graphs is an important part of biology. Every AP exam has a few questions about graphs. The AP Exam has also frequently had students make and interpret a graph on an essay question. This is a basic skill that you need to do well in any AP science class. You should complete this packet before performing any labs. While I will expect you to use computer generated graphs in the year, I want these graphs made by hand. This will ensure academic integrity.

2) Read all documents that are attached in your email. Some of them have directions somewhere in them telling you what to do. You MUST read carefully. There are going to be a number of little things you must do and have ready for the first day of school. All of the different things you need to do are spread throughout these documents. READ CAREFULLY! (I did this intentionally as paying attention to details is an important skill in any AP class).

3) Plant observations with proper laboratory notebook formatting. (See LABORATORY NOTEBOOK PROCEDURES first.)

You must go out and observe, draw, and photograph 3 monocots, 3 dicots, 2 gymnosperms, 1 seedless vascular plant, and 1 bryophyte. You may need to try a variety of locations in order to find all of your examples. This assignment will be the first entry in your lab notebook. Everything must be written in pen, except for your sketches. Create some sort of data table to display your results. Attach photographs neatly into your notebook. READ the notebook guidelines before beginning. Your sketches must look relatively like each of the samples you find. Take your time. Everyone can draw! In order to photograph, you may use a camera, cell phone, disposable camera, a friend’s camera, etc. Make it work! You have all summer to figure it out.

Include a description of each type of plant. You are going to have to research this in order to figure out what you are looking for.

Include: leaves & flowers for angiosperms, needles or leaves, and cones or seeds for gymnosperms. For the Seedless Vascular and Bryophytes include what seems appropriate. Along with each sketch include both the Common and Scientific names. I do understand that some of the species are going to be difficult to I.D. so if all you can get to is the Genus, that will be fine. If you want to collect and press any samples (look it up), be careful what you take. Some plants can cause reactions, like Poison Ivy, and other plants might be rare or protected. If you are thinking of taking anything from a Nation or State Park/Forrest, talk to a Park Ranger first. Most National Parks forbid the removal of any specimens to ensure that the habitat is preserved for everyone to enjoy.

4) Sign and turn in the last page of the AP Biology Class Expectations document.

5) Read, sign and return the lab safety contract on the first day of school.

6) Buy and set up your notebook according to the notebook guidelines. Make sure the plant exploration goes into this notebook!

7) Buy other materials you need for class. Required: mechanical pencils, blue pens, black pens, colored pencils, 3-ring binder, lab notebook (graph-ruled composition book), lined paper to keep in your binder, white paper to keep in your binder. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: AP Biology Review Book (Look for a brand new edition as the course changes this year. However, an older one will work too!)

8) Raise $100 for the spring field trip. Those of you who came to my class on the Wednesday you were supposed to received a fund raiser card. Others must think of some way to raise the money. If you did not get a fund raiser card and can not raise and bring $100 on the first day, then you must show up on the first day with a fund raising proposal. What WILL you do to raise money for the trip?

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email at

Please note: I advise you to be ready to ask questions and discuss the summer materials on the first day of class. Because of the block scheduling all class time is precious. We will need to move fast so you will really need to step up and do your best possible work. Procrastination will not work with the schedule so be ready to go!

Have a great summer.

Mr. Rosa

PS Please do not procrastinate and send me emails 2 days (or even 2 weeks) before school starts because you cannot finish the assignment.