This project began as a attempt to create a translation and notetaking organizer for my new AP Latin class. I wanted something that included more than just blank lines and blank space.

Here are the details (from the back of the book):

This notebook’s intended function is to help students prepare for the AP Latin by providing an organizer for their notes and translations. It is therefore organized and arranged to company my tiered reader for the AP Latin Pliny passages Darkness Over Pompeii: Selections from Pliny the Younger’s Letters. However, as this notebook only includes the original texts and some vocabulary lists, it could be used in any AP Latin class taught from any pedagogical perspective.

Each section of the notebook includes:

1. the original Latin text, double-spaced, to provide room for marginalia and annotations
2. non-required AP vocabulary in bold font
3. a list of the non-required vocabulary at the bottom of each section
4. Space under the text for language-related notes (grammar, syntax, rhetoric, etc). This section is marked “Lingua.”
5. A space on the facing page for translation, summary, or notes
6. A space on the facing page for the so-called “5 Ps” of Culture (People, Places, Products, Practices, and Perspectives).

All advanced Latin students reading these excerpts of Pliny’s Letters will find this notebook helpful in their studies, whether or not they are preparing the AP Latin exam.

The Required AP Selections from the Pliny the Younger include:
– Letters to his wife Calpurnia (Letters 6.4 and 6.7)
– Letters describing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD (Letters 6.16 and 6.20)
– Letter describing ghosts and marvels (Letter 7.27)
– Three letters regarding Roman citizenship (Letters 10.5-10.7)
– Two letters concerning aqueducts (Letters 10.37 and 10.90)

A digital version of notebook that I’m using with my students is available here:

You can also purchase a bound version of the Pliny Notebook from Amazon.