AP US History (APUSH) Summer Assignment 2014/2015
Miss Safstrom
esafstrom@acschools.org
Welcome to class!!!
Congratulations on the commitment of your time and energy to Advanced
Placement United States History. This will be a demanding course; a course that will
challenge your mind and engage all your faculties over the year. Our time is very
limited during the school year. So, we have to start our studies over the summer.
The goal of the class is to prepare you for the AP US History exam in May. To be
successful you will need both historical analysis skills and the historical knowledge.
We will be working on both throughout the school year.
Enclosed within this packet are the instructions and reading for the following
assignments:
1.
Read Chapters 1-4 in the American Pageant
- complete attached chapter questions
2.
Supplemental Readings (The Columbian Exchange and How Capitalism
Saved the Pilgrims)
3.
Personal Essay Assignment
The enclosed assignments/readings must be completed by the first day of the
course. Yes- you will turn in this work on the first day of class for credit and
you’ll have your first exam on Chapters 1 – 4 by Week 2! Begin your work right
away and schedule a regular time during the summer to complete it. Avoid doing
everything at the last minute (the week before school starts for example). By doing
so, you’ll retain the material more effectively and set yourself up for a more
successful regimen during the school year.
It is the effort you put forward this summer that will set the tone for next year.
Procrastination and lax attention will beget the same. Start the school year strong
by putting in the time, dedication, and attention to detail this summer. Should you
have questions regarding this work or the course, please do not hesitate to contact
me via email esafstrom@acschools.org.
Thank you for taking the challenge of APUSH and committing yourself to an
academic rigorous program. Don’t forget to enjoy your summer with your friends
and family. All summer materials can be found on my teacher page under AP
US History Summer Assignments.
Miss Elizabeth Safstrom
Instructor, APUSH
Annville-Cleona High School
AP US History Summer Assignment 2014-2015
Keep in Mind:
1. Enjoy your summer. These few assignments should not consume all of
your free time.
2. Read. Try to read several books over the course of the summer. They
don’t have to be history books but there are some real good
historical fiction novels.
3. Stay informed. Keep up on world events.
4. Learn your geography. Do you know all 50 states, the mountain ranges,
the rivers, if you don’t….then learn them. Much of US history is related to
geography.
5. Watch history movies. Keep in mind that not all of them are historically
accurate but it’s a good way to spark an interest in a person or time
period.
6. Memorize the Presidents. You will need to know them by May, so you
might want to get a jump start. Try to do them in blocks of 3: Washington,
Adams, Jefferson (pause) Madison, Monroe, Adams…
7. Get a head start of test preparations: There are a lot of good resources
to help you prepare for the AP Exam. Some resources can be found online
at collegeboard.com (you can find practice tests and study guides). There
are really good books on the market that are highly recommended:
Crash Course in AP US History(REA)
Cracking the AP Exams (The Princeton Review)
5 Steps to a 5 (McGraw Hill)
AP United States History (Barron’s)
AP US History (Amsco).
There are other online resources that provide a review question a day
and other study guides. In addition, all the company’s that
produce books also make Flash Cards which are very helpful in
test preparation.
8. Supplement the Textbook. While our textbook gives a good general
overview you might want to purchase other books to supplement your
knowledge by reading other historians work you get a different historical
perspectives on events. The following books are regarded as must reads.
-
Lies My Teacher Told Me and Everything Your American
History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen
A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present by
Howard Zinn
A Patriot’s History of the United States: From Columbus’s Great
Discovery to the War of Terror by Larry Schweikart and
Michael Allen
AP US History Summer Assignment 2014 – 2015
The American Pageant Summer Guided Reading Assignment
Directions: It is expected that students planning to take Advanced Placement U.S.
History next academic year will enter the classroom day 1 with a basic knowledge of
early American history. Your knowledge of the bridging content will allow our class
to pick up with an in-depth analysis of the late colonial period.
To prepare for the beginning of the school year, please:
1. Complete the required reading in The American Pageant textbook.
2. Complete the attached packet of questions.
3. Complete the Personal Essay Project
4. Complete the supplemental readings
5. Know-important terms
The packet is due on the first day of school. Additionally, students are responsible
for the information in these chapters; a test will be given on the material. Make
sure that all work is your own – part of this assignment is to help you evaluate
your own strengths and weaknesses in reading, note-taking, critical thinking, and
writing.
Personal Essay Project
- Write a 500 word essay introducing yourself (or reintroducing yourself)
to me. Include one paragraph in your essay on why you chose to take AP US History
this year. You should also discuss any favorite time periods, events, or people from
American History that you find fascinating or interested in learning more about. In
addition, you should mention any time period or area of history that you feel is weak
and would like to improve (for myself it’s always Supreme Court decisions). This
assignment should be typed.
Submission of Assignments – You have three options for submitting your summer
work. First, bring the completed packet with you. Second, drop electronically via
email. Third, drop electronically via synergy drop box.
APUSH SUPPLEMENTAL READING NOTES
The Columbian Exchange
Please answer each question thoroughly and completely
Read The Columbian Exchange – It can be found as a .pdf on my teacher page. Look
under AP United States History – Summer Assignments or
(http://www.historynow.org/06_2007/historian2.html) by Alfred Crosby and
complete the prompts below.
In two or three well thought out sentences, summarize the major point of the
reading. (Please be thorough. This will be very important to you late in the year
when reviewing for the AP test)
In a couple of sentences, what was the bias of the author? From what perspective
does the author write—political, social, and economic? Why is this significant in the
document you have read?
Different from the “what is the main point” question above, list several things that
you learned from this reading, things you did not know before doing this reading.
The purpose of this assignment is to help you be prepared to refer to historians or
historically significant individuals in your AP test essays. In the space below, write
down quotes from the document that you might think might be useful. Try to be
selective—choose those that are genuinely typical of the writer’s thinking or that
highlight a major point in the writer’s thinking or argument.
APUSH SUPPLEMENTAL READING NOTES
How Capitalism Saved the Pilgrims
Please answer each question thoroughly and completely. If you have treated this
assignment lightly, you will be at a disadvantage in writing essays that call for
“substantial and appropriate outside information.”
Read How Capitalism Saved the Pilgrims pages 53 to 62 and generate notes.
You can find the .pdf on my teacher page of the school website.
In two or three will thought out sentences, summarize the major point of this
reading. (Please be thorough. This will be very important to you late in the year
when reviewing for the AP test)
In a couple of sentences, what was the bias of the author? From what perspective
does the author write—political, social, and economic? Why is this significant in the
document you have read?
Different from the “what is the main point” question above, list several things that
you learned from this reading, things that you did not know before doing this
reading.
The purpose of this assignment it to help you be prepared to refer to historians or
historically significant individuals in your AP test essays. In the space below, write
down quotes from the document that you think might be useful. Try to be
selective—choose those that are genuinely typical of the writer’s thinking or that
highlight a major point in the writer’s thinking or argument.