June 9, 2012
Dear Parents,
I am excited that your son/daughter has signed up for Advanced Placement Biology for the 20122013 school year!
My primary goal for this class is to get your child excited about biology. The fact that biology is not
static; the knowledge gained from research is always changing and bringing new light to complex
topics is fascinating to me. My secondary goal is to get them to ask questions – it is through
questioning that scientists discover new ideas. My last goal is to prepare them for the AP Exam in
May 2013. I can guide them and facilitate the learning, but the deep learning must come from
within themselves and their own drive to succeed.
That being said; AP Biology is an intense and in-depth course on all facets of biology ranging from
ecology to cellular processes. It is a fast paced, demanding and time consuming course. I tell the
prospective students to expect about an hour a night of homework just for this course. If they
procrastinate they will have many long nights – as some of my past students can attest to.
Due to the amount of material that is to be covered before the May 2013 exam and the fact that I
like to do extra labs in addition to the 12 labs that the College Board recommends, I am assigning
summer work. (The schools in the South have an advantage over us because they start 1-2 weeks
earlier, have no snow days and yet we all take the test on the same day throughout the country.)
Your son/daughter has received a packet that contains an introductory letter with the assignments
explained and 6 reading guides to complete. (The students will complete a reading guide for all of
the chapters by the end of the course.) They will also bring home the Campbell Biology 8th Edition
AP textbook for the summer. As part of the summer assignment, they have check points where they
will need to e-mail me certain information; those dates are listed in the student letter. If the student
does not have access to a computer at home, your local library has them available for use.
Your child also has access to a companion website that goes along with the textbook. (The
directions to access the website will be forthcoming once I get the access codes from the publisher.)
It contains a wealth of information: has activities based on the content, practice quizzes, videos,
flashcards and a lot of other information the students can use to help them in this course. I highly
suggest the students use this website to prepare for tests and quizzes. We will also be using the same
website in class.
If you have any concerns or questions about the course, please feel free to contact me at any time
through my e-mail npratt@ctreg14.org. I check it almost daily throughout the summer.
Sincerely,
Nadine Pratt