AP Biology 2013-14

Welcome incoming students for the 2013-2014 version of AP biology at Sparta High School. I'm excited to work with you guys and gals this upcoming school year and expect many great things from you. Having AP biology as a year round class will be a refreshing change and allow for me to help better prepare you for the AP Biology Exam in May 2014.

In order to get a jump start on things, I've assigned you all a summer assignment. You should have received one of these prior to leaving for the summer, but in case you didn't or you mislocated (not sure if this is a real word) yours, I've attached the assignment below. Please make sure you adhere to the due dates that are listed on the assignment. Additionally, the assignments are meant to be somewhat fun and/or pretty interesting, so it may be better to label them as summer explorations rather than assignments :)

Enjoy your summer.

SUMMER ASSIGNMENT LINK

Review Materials on Learn Site

I've posted multiple review items on the learn site. The materials range from year long review to topic review, including math in the biology class activities. Go to the learn site to access there. Just a reminder that if you are logging in from home then your username is first.lastname@SPARTA.LAN (my login is matt.landry@sparta.lan) and password is the same as at school.

Good luck in reviewing as I have not heard from many of you (I've only heard from one person in the past two weeks).

AP Biology Review

Hello everyone. First of all, if you haven't liked the facebook page yet, please do so as I will be using that more than I do the blog. Secondly, in case you haven't read the facebook page, the AP prep books were NOT ordered on time so I cancelled the order. There are two books prep books out there that are getting really high reviews right now -  Barrons (4th ed.) and Cliffs (4th ed.). You should be able to find these in stock at local book stores. Just make sure you are getting the version that is updated for the new curriculum as there are still some of the old books on the shelves too. See below for pics.

Finally, here's the first review stuff that I have. This was put together by Mr. Knuffke whose prezis we used. Its a break down of the big ideas of the curriculum and walks you through the basics skills you need for success and the higher level skills you need to earn the 4 or 5. Good luck in prepping.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EhOAMmfK2VESQv2cogQRGOfkNjQcqkT9E4b33WFlpX0/edit?usp=sharing

AP Biology Has Gone Social

Hey everyone. Exciting news on two fronts:

1. I've now setup a facebook page called "Mr Landry's AP Biology Class". I think this will probably be the best way to communicate prior to the AP test as most of us are using facebook anyway. Go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mr-Landrys-AP-Biology-Class/353728314739712 and like the page (if the page doesn't show up right, just search the title above).

The beauty of this is that I've also linked the blog to the facebook page so that whenever I put something on the blog, it will automagically post it to the facebook page as well. Also, since many of you have twitter, I've done the same thing there so follow me @mrlandryshs to get updates through Twitter.

2. My biology students will be using your blogs on Friday so watch your email for notice of comments and feel free to respond back if you get a chance. They will primarily be concentrating on the macromolecule, cell, and osmosis/diffusion entries that you did (and some will be looking at your thoughts about AP biology as they are scheduling their classes right now).

Let's plan on getting together next week Monday, 3-18-13 afterschool to discuss exam prep. I'll send an email out as well. Thanks everyone.

Last Blog Reminder

Grades are entered and updated. Just a reminder to everyone to complete their final blog entry by the end of the weekend. These are recorded in Power school already and could move you up a grade if you are right on the cusp of the next higher grade. A special shout out to Liz B. & Chloe M. for your blog entries as they are above and beyond and appreciated by me (and future students once they get to see them). Thanks again for doing this. Enjoy your weekend.

Last Post of the Semester

All good things must come to an end. Its hard to believe that the semester is already over. I have enjoyed working with all of you and look forward to continuing to do so as we lead up to the Monday, May 13, 2012 test date.I will continue to use this blog to update you on the AP biology exam so please subscribe to email updates if you haven't already done so.

Several items:

1. All notes from the semester are on the learn site, as well as a document that walks you through the topics that we did not discuss (with links to powerpoints that are available to go with the topic). You can also find a playlist on my Youtube channel that has video topics that we did not discuss.
2. I will have all of the prezis available soon as well.
3. I'm still evaluating test prep books. The one that I currently have is not very helpful in my opinion so I've requested some others. I will let you all know when I find one that will be helpful. In the meantime, you can hang on to your textbooks until May 17, 2013.
4. Your final blog entry is to write a letter of advice to students that will be taking this class next year. Please don't write "don't take the class" or anything else similar as they obviously have an interest in the topic, otherwise they would not have signed up for the class. Instead, give them constructive, first hand advice that may help them to be more successful in the class. You are welcome to share frustrations, but also share how you overcame or could have overcome those frustrations.
5. Please get me your projects by the beginning of 3rd block WED at the latest.
6. EXAM - THURSDAY 1-24-13 DURING 2ND BLOCK.
7. Today we will review the biochemistry, cell, and metabolism units and tomorrow we will review the ecology and evolution units.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Prezi

FYI - I've added a link to the left that will take you to my collection of prezis.