Textbook information
Our book is American History 15th Edition by Alan Brinkley (Publisher: McGraw Hill). You should be getting a physical book as well as access to all of the online material. This book is $150. Looking online, even used copies of the book from two editions ago are running close to $50. Because of this, I don't recommend purchasing your own copy of the text. You would be better served picking up Princeton Review’s Cracking the AP US History Exam. Having this will allow you to get a rough framework of the chapter, with the textbook and videos (you’ll find them below)
APUSH Summer Assignment
APUSH is a tremendously rewarding survey course study of American History that replicates a college-level history course. As such, there will be a large amount of reading, writing, and historical analysis you will be expected to perform, both as in class and at home. Due to the nature of the course, it is difficult to get through all of the required information in time for the APUSH exam in May. Because of this, a summer assignment is necessary to help you understand APUSH Historical Period 1 (Exploration and Colonization) so that we can jump straight into Period 2 (The British Colonies) when school starts. The assignments below will help you better understand the themes and key concepts of Period 1. Your entire summer assignment will be due the 2nd day of class, and there will be a test over the vocabulary and Historical Thinking questions that first Friday.
1) You are required to have a Gmail account for this class, so if you don't have one, then go HERE and create one. You need one that is "professional", one that you can put on resumes, college and scholarship applications (GOOD=firstname.lastname, initials, partial name and a number, etc; BAD=bigbooty123, MoCitynosepicker, etc). And make sure your password is something that you can easily remember.
2) Open the Unit 1 Study Guide and on page 2 you'll find vocabulary for Period 1. You need to define these first, as they will help you with parts 2 and 3. You may use any resources out there to help define these terms.
3) Go to the Gilder Lehrman APUSH Study Guide site for Period 1. Scroll to the bottom and you will find 4 essays. You'll need to copy/paste these essays into Word (or Pages, if on a Mac) and print them out. To save paper and ink, you should reduce the text to no more than 12pt font and reduce your margins to a 1/2 inch. After printing them out, you need to read and annotate (take notes, write down any questions, and highlight/underline key points). These essays will help you to understand the major events of this period of interaction between the old and new worlds.
4) On page 1 of the Unit 1 Study Guide, you'll find 5 Historical Thinking questions. These are short answer questions, so the answers need to be hand-written in whole complete sentences. (Studies show that handwritten notes help you retain info better and longer than typed notes.) We will have these types of questions for every Unit, which will help you to see the key historical concepts within each of the 9 APUSH Periods. It is essential that you answer these questions with specific historical evidence.
The Period 1 Study Guide may will also help you understand the big picture from 1491-1607.
The following links will help you answer the questions:
Gilder Lehrman APUSH site - The top half of the page has videos for various APUSH skills. The bottom half has links to each Historical Period, each period has videos that give a good overview of each of the APUSH Historical Periods
Adam Norris videos - These videos were created by an APUSH teacher and are basically a lecture/PowerPoint over each chapter in your textbook; they will be incredibly helpful this year. You need to take notes over the chapter in order to help you memorize and better understand the material. You will be expected to discuss and write about the information from Chapter 1 the first week of school.
1) You are required to have a Gmail account for this class, so if you don't have one, then go HERE and create one. You need one that is "professional", one that you can put on resumes, college and scholarship applications (GOOD=firstname.lastname, initials, partial name and a number, etc; BAD=bigbooty123, MoCitynosepicker, etc). And make sure your password is something that you can easily remember.
2) Open the Unit 1 Study Guide and on page 2 you'll find vocabulary for Period 1. You need to define these first, as they will help you with parts 2 and 3. You may use any resources out there to help define these terms.
3) Go to the Gilder Lehrman APUSH Study Guide site for Period 1. Scroll to the bottom and you will find 4 essays. You'll need to copy/paste these essays into Word (or Pages, if on a Mac) and print them out. To save paper and ink, you should reduce the text to no more than 12pt font and reduce your margins to a 1/2 inch. After printing them out, you need to read and annotate (take notes, write down any questions, and highlight/underline key points). These essays will help you to understand the major events of this period of interaction between the old and new worlds.
4) On page 1 of the Unit 1 Study Guide, you'll find 5 Historical Thinking questions. These are short answer questions, so the answers need to be hand-written in whole complete sentences. (Studies show that handwritten notes help you retain info better and longer than typed notes.) We will have these types of questions for every Unit, which will help you to see the key historical concepts within each of the 9 APUSH Periods. It is essential that you answer these questions with specific historical evidence.
The Period 1 Study Guide may will also help you understand the big picture from 1491-1607.
The following links will help you answer the questions:
Gilder Lehrman APUSH site - The top half of the page has videos for various APUSH skills. The bottom half has links to each Historical Period, each period has videos that give a good overview of each of the APUSH Historical Periods
Adam Norris videos - These videos were created by an APUSH teacher and are basically a lecture/PowerPoint over each chapter in your textbook; they will be incredibly helpful this year. You need to take notes over the chapter in order to help you memorize and better understand the material. You will be expected to discuss and write about the information from Chapter 1 the first week of school.