Upper School Summer Work

We require students to do summer reading to help them maintain their reading skills over the summer, engage their imaginations, and provide a common learning experience for students in the opening days of school. Additionally, the required texts for each grade are linked thematically to the courses and help students and teachers establish a conceptual framework for the school year. At every grade level, students will read; see below for details.

AP Chemistry: See assignments. 

AP Biology: Summer work for AP Biology will be assigned through a website called Mastering Biology. Mastering Biology is a unique comprehensive experience put together by the authors of Campbell Biology, the text we will use next year and is designed specifically for the AP Biology course.  

Eight modules in Mastering Biology are assigned as summer work. The topics include: Chemistry of Life, Cell Structure and Function, Cellular Energetics, Cell Communication and Cell Cycle, Heredity and Genetics, Genetic Expression and Regulation, Evolution, and Ecology.  Each unit takes about 40-60 minutes to complete and provides a general review of everything covered in 9th Biology that is relevant to AP Biology.  Students continue to use Mastering Biology throughout the school year for homework and test preparation, and summer work allows students to become familiar with Mastering Biology as well as reviewing important biological concepts.

In early June, students will receive an email from David Nichols that will supply them with a course ID unique to their course and section as well as an access code unique to each student. At that time students will also have the option to pick up a hardcopy of the Campbell Biology textbook at school. An electronic copy of the same text is included in Mastering Biology and can be used over the summer.

AP Environmental Science: Students will receive an email from Kevin Berkoff during the third week of June with the summer assignment. Included in the assignment will be the log-in and password registration information for the online version of the class textbook.

French V

Students who have registered to take French 5 will read Le Racisme expliqué à ma fille by Tahar Ben Jelloun. (ISBN: 9781547900404)

<<Un enfant est curieux. Il pose beaucoup de questions et il attend des réponses précises et convaincantes. On ne triche pas avec les questions d'un enfant. C'est en m'accompagnant à une manifestation contre un projet de loi sur l'immigration que ma fille m'a interrogé sur le racisme. Nous avons beaucoup parlé. Les enfants sont mieux placés que quiconque pour comprendre qu'on ne naît pas raciste mais qu'on le devient. Parfois. Ce livre s'adresse d'abord aux enfants : ils n'ont pas encore de préjugés et veulent comprendre. Quant aux adultes qui le liront, j'espère qu'il les aidera à répondre aux questions, plus embarrassantes qu'on le croit, de leurs propres enfants.>>

Advanced Spanish IV: See assignments.

Please click on the links below for the appropriate summer math assignment. Math course placement for 2021-22 is listed on your report card in the math comment.  If you are still unsure which math class you are enrolled in, email Doug Gorham at dgorham@penncharter.com.

The following courses do not have summer assignments: Introduction to Statistics, The Mathematics of Finance, Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra.

Algebra 1    

Geometry     

Advanced Geometry   

Algebra 2

Advanced Algebra 2      

Functions and Trigonometry

Precalculus    

Advanced Precalculus A   

Advanced Precalculus AA     

Calculus   

Advanced Placement Calculus AB    

Advanced Placement Calculus BC      

Advanced Placement Statistics