Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and you were able to enjoy time with your family. I thoroughly enjoyed the holidays, the magic of Christmas is still very real in my house! I do have to say my favorite moment of all is the extremely large "Best Mom Ever" earrings my daughter Taylor picked out for me at the Secret Shop in school. It is always interesting seeing what they think to get you, I also got a beautiful gemstone ring that turned my finger brown from my older daughter Makenzie. The excitement of the gift giving is a memory I hope will stay with me when the girls get bigger!

After a restful week we are re-energized and ready for the remainder of the school year. We will be working on Habit # 3 of our "7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens" and also re-focusing on daily attendance this month. Homerooms with the best attendance for the month will be earning a bagel party!

See the below article for more information on the importance of attendance at any age!

Until next week,

Erin

This month we will begin focusing on Habit # 3-Put First Things First

This month we will see the first three habits we have been working on build upon each other:

Habit # 1- Be Proactive- Be in charge of your choices and attitudes. Focus on things you can control.

Habit #2 - Begin with the End in Mind- Choose where you want to go in life and create a map of how you will get there.

Habit #3- Put First Things First- Do the most important things first. Say no to the things that will steer you off course.

During January we will be focusing on three main paradigms in Habit # 3

1. Effectiveness, THEN efficiency- there is no need to do something efficiently if it should not be done at all

2. IMPORTANCE over urgency- Just because something wants your immediate attention, does not mean it is important. Do the important things first.

3. RELATIONSHIP before schedule- Many people say their relationship with family and friends are most important, but they then get too busy to spend any time with those people. Putting first things first places relationships into proper order.

1) The ACT is on February 11, 2023. Registration deadline is 1/6/2023. Register at www.act.org

The week leading up to break the Physical Education Department held a battle of the classes competition to get ready for the big holiday Pep Rally Friday. The first day the sophomores took a tremendous lead during the basketball, "make it, take it" competition. They won first place in four out of the eight periods. Over the next two days of competition the seniors stepped it up with first places titles in the volleyball tournament and scooter relays to lead them to an overall battle of the classes victory. The sophomores were just a few points behind in a second place title while the juniors and freshman came in third and fourth place respectively. It was a fun week had by all, thank you to Ms. Blondina and the rest of the PE department for taking this initiative on!

Parent Portal updates: Coming soon!

Starting January 1st, Toms River Middle and High School students will have access to their own Genesis Student Portal to look up schedules, grades, bus assignments, attendance and more. The site address is https://students.trschools.com. Students will use their Google account credentials to login. To ensure students are accessing their new personal Student Portal, parents should change their Parent Portal password.

Thank you to the parents that attended the Google Meet chat this month. Save the date

(January 24th @ 9am) for the next Chat with the Principal: meet.google.com/toh-iuxw-bst

January 10th, 11th and 12th there will be significant delays in after school transportation due to the Elementary schools having early dismissals for parent/teacher conferences.

Interested in getting the above newsletter from Sra. Rodriguez ?? Send an email lrodriguez1@trschools.com to get added to her distribution list!

The next meeting will be January 24th at 6pm in the Main Office Conference room! All parents are welcome!

Thank you to MORANO TOURS for the monetary donation to our student fund! We appreciate you!

Thank you to, Steve Waunsch from Papa John's Pizza for his donations!

If your business is interested in making a donation please reach out! We can advertise you on our social media ( almost 3,000 followers on Instagram) : Eanders@trschools.com

Thank you to Mrs. Hatton and Mrs. Fitzgerald for organizing a fun and festive event! Great job by the MC's of the event Michael Bruno and Kyle Cocozzo.