It's Summer - what do I do now?

To my future AP Biology Students!

Welcome!! Yes, I know... it is the end of the school year. Finals are almost over and the warm breezes of summer are beckoning you. I totally understand. Everyone needs a chance to relax, unwind, and reset over the summer months. I know that many of you are wondering what you can do to prepare yourself for AP Biology. There are a few things.

1. Have some enriching experiences over the summer. If you are wondering what to do, try visiting a Natural History museum or the California Science Museum. Visit tidepools and observe the tides and the tiny animals that inhabit the coast. Plant some seeds and observe their growth. Plant a vegetable garden and eat what you grow. Visit the Aquarium of the Pacific. Go whale watching. Go to the desert and try to figure out how the succulents and cacti have modified normal plant structure to be able to survive in a harsh, hot and dry environment. Cook an egg and watch what happens when extreme heat is applied to the egg protein (albumen in the egg white) (ok, you might as well eat that, too). Read a novel like Into Thin Air (how people cope with climbing Mount Everest - low oxygen environment) or Oliver Sacks book entitled The Man who mistook his wife for a hat (or any book by Oliver Sacks) or Robert Sapolsky's Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers or his other book A Primate's Memoir. Visit the Fullerton Arboretum or the Huntington Gardens. Find some rolly-pollies or a colony of ants and observe their behavior. Go to the mall and observe human behavior!! Maybe even compare the ant behavior and the human behavior!! Watch a movie: Avatar, GATTACA, Lorenzo's Oil, Lion King, Planet Earth or anything else that is narrated by David Attenborough, Finding Nemo, Outbreak, Life Story, Jurassic Park, Cane toadds:an unnatural history, Gorillas In the MIst, An Inconvenient Truth, or other such movies. Believe it or not, all these experiences will help you be part of the amazing world around you.

2. Ask questions. When you see something happen or observe natural phenomena, start asking questions. Why did that happen? What caused it? Will it happen again? What triggered that behavior? Look it up on the internet and see what others say. Maybe there is a TED Talk or a Youtube video that can help you answer your questions. But whether you get answers or not, ASK QUESTIONS!

3. Be part of the World! don't sit in your house playing video games. Put down the electronics and go outside. Interact with others and with your environment. Take at least 20 minutes every day to go OFF THE GRID!

4. For those of you who can't get through the summer without something to read from a textbook, go to the TOOLS page and download the PDFs of the reading packet (Campbell's Biology chapters 2 and 4). This is not a summer assignment but I know that some of you have already asked me for reading materials. Again, this is optional. If you read it during the summer, you won't have to read it in the fall. If you don't read it during the summer, you will read it during the fall. Your choice.

I am looking forward to meeting you all. Have a FUN and REJUVENATING summer!! I'll see you in the fall!