Glimpse into your child's school experience during our Academic Partnering Night. Meet with your child's teachers to better understand their progress and ways you can support their learning at home. Refreshments and interpretation are available. Check with your school for additional details. We can't wait to see you!
Download the TalkingPoints App today and get connected with your child's teacher.
TalkingPoints is an easy and safe app for families to communicate in their home languages with their child’s teachers for free.
RMP schools are using this platform to communicate with families about their child’s education and progress.
Learn more about TalkingPoints.
For the first time in its history, U.S. News & World Report has ranked the best performing elementary and middle schools in the country.
We are excited to share that all four Rocky Mountain Prep schools were named in the inaugural list of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Elementary Schools!
These first-ever K-8 rankings assess student performance in the context of their states and demographics. Scoring was rooted in students’ performance on mathematics and reading/language arts state assessments. The U.S. Department of Education-sourced data was from the 2018-2019 academic year and preceded the COVID-19 pandemic's impact.
Click here to view all the rankings on the US News & World Report site.
A great big high FIVE to the fabulous Rocky Mountain Prep Fletcher community, as they celebrate the Aurora Public Schools (APS) Board of Education’s decision to extend their charter for five more years! In honor of this incredible achievement, we wanted to share five things that make RMP Fletcher a wonderful school.
RMP Fletcher’s first class of third graders took the CMAS exams in the 2018-19 school year, and we are extremely proud to share that RMP Fletcher students had the highest math proficiency of all charter schools and the third-highest of all schools in APS!
While we know there is still lots of work to be done, the growth we’ve seen is one of the clearest examples of the positive impact of our educational program.
How did we achieve such academic growth? By hiring top talent and providing abundant opportunities for professional development! Each one of our educators is an ingenious, unique, loving individual and through consistent and targeted learning opportunities, we seek to help them become master teachers. In fact, in the last two school years, six RMP Fletcher fellows have moved into lead teacher roles, continuing their impact in new ways while maintaining their relationships with students and families.
Consistent and meaningful community engagement has been at the forefront of RMP Fletcher’s growth strategy from the beginning. When RMP first took over the Fletcher campus, we served 48 prekindergarten students and there were approximately 360 students in the building. Since then, our full pre-k through fifth-grade program serves more than 550 students - almost 200 more students and families excited about the rigorous and loving education available at RMP. This growth would not have been possible without the incredible RMP Fletcher and our broader community.
Since RMP Fletcher’s beginning, the Aurora Public Schools district has been a source of encouragement and support as we strive to be the best we can be for our students. We are grateful to have such a hard-working group of individuals on our team to help us give our students the high-quality, loving education they deserve.
Read more about our partnership with the Fletcher community and APS via A+ Colorado.
Across our network, each one of our students makes up a special and irreplaceable part of RMP. We are humbled by the incredible hard work and modeling of PEAK Values every single one of our RMP Fletcher students does each day.
As one third-grade student shared when their teacher asked her class to think about how they could improve how they live their PEAK values: “You know what… I think I’m crushing it.”
We think all our Fletcher students and educators are crushing it, too!
Walking through the halls of Rocky Mountain Prep Fletcher, it’s impossible to miss the joyous sounds of Mr. Alec Powell’s music class. As the only RMP school that offers music as part of its specials curriculum, RMP Fletcher has blazed a trail, opening new doors to student growth. To learn more about this unique program, we sat down with Mr. Powell, music teacher extraordinaire.
Since joining the team, Mr. Powell has been growing the RMP Fletcher music program and recently added string instruments to complete the ensemble.
On top of developing his students’ musical prowess, Mr. Powell has used the addition of musical instruments to teach important lessons about responsibility. Scholars are invited to bring their instruments home to practice independently and are expected to return the instruments in good condition. Mr. Powell has observed an increase in maturity, positive student behavior, and responsibility, since introducing instruments to the program.
The RMP Fletcher music classroom is structured to allow small group learning. Mr. Powell has found that more intimate groups help build relationships between students, which fosters growth, learning, and classroom engagement. Additionally, “Small groups equalize the relationship between the teacher and students, creating a powerful and inclusive environment of balance and respect.”
Based on a recent increase in parent and family volunteers, it is evident that enthusiasm for RMP Fletcher’s music program is growing. Mr. Powell said, “Parents not only provided extra help in the classroom while students were rehearsing for their performances, but they also supported school teams with set-up and ushering at those performances. We know that parent involvement will be a crucial component of sustaining this program in the long-term.”
Under Mr. Powell’s loving guidance, the RMP Fletcher community has experienced the incredible effects of a high-quality music program, “The music program provides a unique opportunity for students to see one another in a different setting from a traditional classroom where preconceived biases and misconceptions are minimized."
The Fletcher music program is sponsored in part by the Foundation for Sustainable Urban Communities’ generous ongoing support. We are grateful to them for the support of a program that allows us to enhance our students’ learning with a focus on musical literacy and expression.
Rocky Mountain Prep is such an extraordinary place and our students are the reason our schools are so special. We recently had the chance to meet with Estrella or “Ella,” for short, to chat with her about Rocky Mountain Prep. We asked her different questions about school, her classes, and her favorite part of the day. Here is what Ella, a 3rd grade student, in Ms. Beard’s class at RMP Fletcher shared with us!
Q: What is your favorite part about coming to RMP?
A: I love math because there are a lot of numbers and I love adding and subtracting.
Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: I want to be a dancer because I’ve done dance for a long time and know I would be great.
Q: How does RMP make you feel?
A: My classmates make me feel happy because I can tell them how I feel.
Q: What are you reading right now?
A: I am reading Just Breathe.
Q: What is your favorite part of the school day and why?
A: My favorite part is ‘morning meeting’ because we talk in a circle and everyone shares.
Q: What did you learn today or yesterday?
A: I learned how to tell time.
Q: What do you love about RMP?
A: I love learning new stuff. I’m excited to learn how to tell time.
Q: Who do you look up to at RMP?
A: My friend Nancy is my hero because I can tell her how I feel and she helps me when I’m sad.
As the preschool landscape changes in Denver, families are beginning to think about pre-k options earlier and earlier... Many families may even find themselves thinking about preschool options before their little one is even born!
As a pre-kindergarten teacher at Rocky Mountain Prep Fletcher, I have many conversations with families about what they can be doing to help ease their child into what for many may be their first formal school experience.
Whether you are planning for your student to start pre-k this fall or have several years to go, there are many simple ways you can help your child feel ready and excited for this transition into school:
1. Capitalize on your child’s natural curiosity.
It’s a cliche you’ve likely heard many times before: Kids are like sponges! The truth is that, particularly as children are in the 3- to 5-year-old age range, there are millions of neurons firing in your child’s brain as they grow and develop. This physical growth means that they are making so many natural connections in their lives. Support this by talking to them about what they see, hear, taste, touch… These conversations will allow their brains to continue to grow.
2. Bring literacy to life with text and visuals.
I often hear from family and friends that their kids “know the ABCs,” when what they really mean is they know the alphabet song. That is wonderful and I can’t encourage families enough to sing with their children. The follow-up question I always ask if they know the symbols. At this age, kids are incredible at memorizing songs, particularly catchy ones, and you can help them along with their learning by incorporating text and/or visuals into any literacy practice.
The good news is there are a variety of easy ways to do this! When you sign something like the alphabet, point to letters on blocks or watch a fun alphabet video together. If you are singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” incorporate a puppet to help sing with the child and encourage them to do hand gestures, too.
3. Count everything.
There are limitless numbers of opportunities to count objects with your child! Need six bananas at the grocery store? Count them as you load them into the cart. Out on a walk? Count the number of dogs you pass! Students feel so much pride when they come into my pre-k classroom and can already count to a certain number. This pride will help them feel comfortable trying new things in the classroom and help them foster their sense of adventure.
Find opportunities to do this in a way that does not feel forced - if you are insisting that you and your child sit down and count every day, they will tire of it and so will you. Children at this age are also very perceptive. They will know if you are forcing something!
4. Your child is only this age once - enjoy it!
Last, but absolutely not least, this is an incredible, magical time in your child’s life. Take advantage of this wonderful time with your kids by playing games, reading their favorite books, spending time at parks… Anything that allows you to spend quality time together means creating special memories for the both of you.
One of my most absolute favorite parts about teaching pre-k is building relationships with my students and families and helping them find the balance of rigor and love at this special age. I am a firm believer that you can both #letthemplay and show them endless amounts of love - and support them in learning content that encourages them to grow. Don’t be afraid of what may seem to be new, challenging content for them - they can handle it while keeping learning fun!
Stephanie McGhee is a prekindergarten teacher at Rocky Mountain Prep Fletcher, a free, APS public elementary school. She can be reached at smcghee@rockymountainprep.org. Interested in learning more about Rocky Mountain Prep? Visit our enrollment page or give us a call at 720.863.8922.
