Just as a worthy cause is more than the sum of its parts, so is the curriculum at Atlantis Charter School.  After graduating from ACS, a child takes with him/her academic achievements as well as life skills.  These symbiotic components, in part, make up the “whole child”.  Our Educational Philosophy speaks to this with a position on the academic contribution to the whole child:

“We believe that, as an inalienable right, every child should be provided the opportunity to receive an excellent education. As such, at Atlantis we will guide each of our students to understand and reflect on the value of lifelong learning.”

A strand which exists alone, as well as throughout our dedication to lifelong learning, is the importance of community.  As a collective body, we are aware that our own successes, struggles, joys, and fears may be someone else’s.  Being sensitive to this dynamic allows our students to see the larger “real-world” picture of how their learning and excellence will lead themselves, and others, towards a better future.  This is realized in many ways, some of which are cooperative learning environments, small group mini-lessons, our student government, and the character education traits embedded in our daily work, such as the Call to Order procedure.

The entire Atlantis population acknowledges the importance of community, and honors it via a school-wide movement – the Celebration of Atlantis.  This celebration of our namesake – the name of a mythical island first mentioned and described in the classical Greek philosopher Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias – seeks to impart the outstanding values attributed to this ancient civilization.  One outcome of this week-long celebration is the understanding that the heroic ideals of the island of Atlantis are what led to the founding of our school.  These ideals are described in our full mission statement, and include Respect, Responsibility, Dedication, Integrity, and Learning.  To achieve these values, we will demonstrate persistence and continuous improvement.  Further, the vision of the founders of the Atlantis Charter School was to use its community’s rich maritime history, and access to marine resources, to frame and facilitate teaching and learning; hence the name Atlantis.

As a school which looks to both standards-based teaching and creativity to drive our instruction, we hold our name up high to the connotation of discovery.  This association is not coincidental.  Atlantis is the namesake of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Center’s first research vessel, which sailed more than 700,000 miles for ocean science from 1931 to 1966.  Atlantis was the first American ship built specifically for research in marine biology, marine geology, and physical oceanography. You can read about the vessel’s history on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Center (WHOI) website.  Lastly, the space shuttle Atlantis was named for the original WHOI research vessel.  It remains one of the few orbital vehicles that are still in use today.  You can read more about the vehicle’s history on the NASA website.

At its most germane, education is a voyage of discovery – it is something that the learner “does”. 

It is with this thought that we set sail as Atlantis Charter School!