Welcome to Sunshine Reading, Writing, AAP Prep, TJ Prep, and PSAT/ SAT Prep at HCS-TC

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Happy 2023! Hope you and your family have had a great holiday break! We warmly welcome our wonderful students to join us for a new year of learning!

Starting this Sunday, January 8th, we will continue to offer English Reading and Writing (AAP Prep) for 1st graders, writing classes for 2nd - 6th graders, TJ Prep for 7th and 8th graders, Advanced Reading and Writing and PSAT for 9th graders and SAT English Prep class for 10th and 11th grade students at HCS-TC.

All students are required to complete their registrations online. We use the registration system to determine how many handouts to make.

About 95% of the classes are already full, so please act quickly if you would like your child to attend our classes this spring by registering at the following link: https://sunshine-academy.org/ register/index.php

Each class will have 5-10 students. For 1st-6th graders, the tuition is $30 per week. For 7th grade and up, the classes will run for 2 hours, and the tuition is $50 per week.

Here is the information regarding our teachers:

1st-2nd grade classes: Ms. A. M is an FCPS elementary school teacher with over 5 years of experience with diverse student populations. She has a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She has been awarded the Teacher of the Year award at her school. She communicates effectively and closely with parents on students’ progress and performance. She is dedicated to challenging students intellectually and encourages collaboration in her classroom. All students and parents love her teaching.

3rd-4th grade classes: Ms. R. W is an FCPS 5th grade teacher with over 22 years of experience in many diverse educational settings. She holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in education. She has served as the lead teacher for her grade at several different schools. She adapts her teaching to address every student’s needs and is excellent at helping students improve their critical reading and essay writing skills, across every level. All students and parents appreciate her devotion, diligence, and patience.

5th-6th grade classes: Mrs. S is an FCPS 10th grade English teacher with over 25 years of experience. Many of her students have received national awards for their writing. She holds a Master’s degree in English and Art Education. Students and parents love her enthusiasm for teaching. All her students have greatly improved their writing under her excellent instruction. She has been with Sunshine for 13 years, and many of her students have achieved perfect scores on the writing SOL.

9th Grade English Reading & Writing, PSAT and SAT Prep classes: Ms. J. M is a current FCPS High School English teacher who has been teaching for 26 years. She holds a Master’s degree in English and Art Education. She has taught many AP and IB level courses, including Creative Writing I, II, and III; Speech, and Journalism. All students and parents enjoy her class, and many of her students have achieved a perfect score on the reading & writing sections of the SAT.

TJ English Prep classes: Ms. F is a current FCPS English teacher who has over 12 years of teaching experience. She holds Master’s degrees in English and Art Education, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Arts and Linguistics. She has been awarded the Teacher of the Year award at her school. She is widely respected by all her students and their parents.

TJ Math and Science Prep classes: Dr. O is a widely respected teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School (TJHSST) and a published author. He holds a Ph. D. in physics and has 19 years of teaching experience. He has been teaching various courses: Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Advanced Mathematical Techniques, BC Calculus, Physical Science, Physics, AP Physics B, AP Physics C, and Differential Equations. His exceptional talent and enthusiastic teaching style reveal the true fun in math and physics.

Here is the class schedule and classroom assignment info:

Here are the highlights of our classes:

For the 1st grade, the English Reading and Writing (i-Ready) classes will help students to improve their English Reading and Writing skills and perform well on the i-Ready test. This test will carry a heavy weight when your child applies for the AAP program. If you want your child to be accepted by the AAP program, your child must pass the AAP tests and score above the grade level for i-Ready. Students who attended our prep classes performed very well on the NNAT, CogAT (FxAT) and i-Ready tests and have been accepted by the AAP programs.

In the 2nd - 6th writing classes, each student will finish at least one writing assignment each week. For the genres of writing, we’ll teach Descriptive Writing, Expository Writing, Journals and Letters, Narrative Writing, Persuasive Writing, and Poetry. Reading is certainly the foundation for writing. We’ll provide students with ample reading and writing samples so that students can read and learn to write more expressively and effectively.

Students who have taken our Writing classes have grown significantly as writers. We have quite a number of students who achieved a perfect score on the SOL. Many students have also had their stories published in the Anthology of Short Stories by Young Americans. To read some sample stories, please view the following link: https://sunshine-academy.org/writing

In order to celebrate our students' learning and showcase our students' writing, we also publish all great writing on our website. Here is how you can read all the writing featured on our website:

1. Log into your account. If you don’t have one, feel free to create one: https://sunshine-academy.org/register/signup.php

2. Click on the tab Featured Writing

3. Read, Comment and Like! You’ll be amazed.

For 7th and 8th grades, our TJ Prep classes will help students improve their English, math, and science knowledge and skills. They will also help students perform very well on the TJ entrance exam.

For high school students, our PSAT and SAT Prep classes will teach critical reading, evidence-based essay writing, writing style and tone, and proper language use. We will also provide students with full-length SAT tests. Our classes will enable students to build solid foundations and achieve high scores on the exams. Many of our SAT Prep students achieved over 1,550 on the SAT test.

If you have any questions, please contact us at sunshine.academy@gmail.com or 703-268-9339.

We look forward to working with your children this Sunday!

Best regards,

Sharon Peng

Sunshine Academy

Always Learning

Learning Changes Everything