8 School of Choice
January 28, 2021
Successfully Educating During a Pandemic A Challenge for Every Child
When Covid-19 hit last March, no one knew what it would look like for our nation, our community, or our schools. American Academy was able to pivot to remote learning, with the help of our amazing staff and a positive school community. Because it was unclear what the 20-21 school year would bring and we knew we’d have to think outside of the box, American Academy started planning for the new school year even before summer break started. Our team of educators and administrators met on a regular basis, taking into account all the information being provided by the health departments, and also considering what was best for our students and families. Fast forward to the first half of this school year, August through January, American Academy was able to remain open and educate our students in person. Because we believe in parent choice, we also gave the option for students to do online learning, which about 25% of our student body took part in. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been worth it! We are confident that we have kept our school community safe as well as up to speed academically. Who We Are and What We Do
Learn more about our high achieving and award winning STEAM programming available at our 3 beautiful Douglas County campuses. And be sure to check out our KindiePrep program for our younger friends ages 3-5.
American Academy is a charter public school (no tuition), and serves Kindergarten through eighth grade at three Douglas County campus locations, and children ages 3-5 at our private pre-schools (KindiePrep). We deliver a solid academic foundation using Core Knowledge curriculum and a STEAM emphasis (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) in a climate of support and student-teacher connectedness. We teach the whole child, addressing social-emotional growth along with academic achievement, and meeting each student at their own level of readiness. A Solid Foundation We use the Core Knowledge curriculum to build a sequenced, common foundation of history, world civilizations, geography, art, culture, and music. Our language arts and math curriculums complement Core Knowledge perfectly, developing those skills in an incremental and sequential manner to ensure long-term retention and deeper understanding. Our daily science curriculum and proprietary STEM curriculum (STEM Discovery Weeks and Engineering Academy) are designed to meet Next Generation Science Standards. We round out these core subjects with a regular rotation of art, music, technology, and physical education classes.
We know that not all students start at the same level, learn in the same way, or master skills at the same pace. To meet every child at their individual level of readiness, American Academy uses flexible ability grouping. Ability groups allow our teachers to challenge each student with concepts and skills appropriate to their level of readiness while also requiring them to grow and master new ones. Students move between ability groups over the years as we work to meet their individual needs for support and challenge. Building Character The American Academy Character program highlights those character traits which lead to personal and academic excellence. We teach and encourage American Academy Manners in order to support those character traits and to help students put them into action. These character traits and manners are implemented, modeled, and repeated in and out of the classroom at every opportunity, every single day. The result is a school culture of kindness, respect, and personal responsibility, and a body of students who are able to engage positively and productively with others at school and beyond. A STEAM Emphasis Our school-day STEAM curriculum instructs students in core subjects, teamwork, critical thinking, and problemsolving. It also provides students with a safe space to try, fail and learn to persevere. Our extensive extracurricular STEAM programming is divided into two major areas of concentration — STEM and Performing Arts — and provides students with a wide range of exciting opportunities to explore! All students are encouraged to try new things in both concentrations and many programs intentionally connect across these areas of concentration. Some examples of STEAM extracurriculars include acting techniques, instrumental classes, band and orchestra, choir, visual arts clubs, school musicals, Robotics Competition, science club, yearbook, broadcasting club, dance, engineering certification, and performing arts certification. American Academy also offers several optional STEM trips, where the learning truly becomes “hands-on”. We are always looking for new ways to challenge and inspire our students with STEAM! Learn more at www.aak8.org.
