Mrs. S. Riggs' Math Website
Hopatcong Middle School
Hopatcong, NJ

 Welcome to Mrs. Riggs' Math Classes! 

     This website is for students and parents alike to stay informed about our math classroom.

Students: check in regularly for homework assignments. Also check out the Tutorials section for short presentations on a variety of math concepts. Be sure to visit the Math Resources section for helpful websites related to homework assignments. If you have questions related to an assignment or a topic we covered in class, please e-mail me. 

Parents: feel free to check up on your student's homework assignments. Also, if you need to contact me feel free to e-mail me at any time.

Homework Assignments:

Parents:

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions!

sriggs@hopatcongschools.org

sriggs@hopatcongschools.org

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BIOGRAPHY

     I have been a member of the Hopatcong Middle School faculty for the past seven years, teaching math in grades six and seven.  Prior to this I was fortunate to have stayed home, raising our four children. During those years I held several long-term substitute positions in a variety of grade levels  in the Morris/Sussex area.  My teaching degree is from Montclair State College (now University) and I originally taught in Andover Township for the ten years immediately after graduation.

     Upon returning to my teaching career, I have been involved in several professional development workshops/training sessions in the field of mathematics.  I have participated in several workshops with the Morris Area Math Alliance which provides twice-yearly instruction for area math teachers in grades K-12.  Last year I completed the NJ State Systemic Institute's "Excellence in Teaching Mathematics, Science, and Technology" program and am presently a member of the Matrix Math Grant program here at HMS, in conjunction with the math/science team from Newton's Halsted Middle School.

     Our children are now all in their twenties, with the three oldest on their own, working in the corporate world. Our youngest is a college sophomore who still plays baseball and we continue to enjoy being spectators at his games.  In addition I love to garden outdoors as well as encourage my houseplants to bloom and enjoy finding time to sit down with a good book----------even better if that can happen on the beach down the shore!

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 Math Internet Resources:

a. Interactive Math Dictionary
http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeather/maths/dictionary.html

b.The Math Forum Student Center:
http://forum.swarthmore.edu/students/

c. Algebra Online:
www.algebra-online.com

d. Algebra Manipulatives:
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/category_g_2_t_2.html

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MATRIX  GRANT

     The school year 2004-2005 was the first year of our Matrix Math Grant training.  After we teachers attended many training sessions during the school year, each of our classes had several opportunities to visit the new math lab at HMS for introductory lessons in using the geosketchpad and math-related programs on the computers.
      Since the initial year, our students have had opportunities to use the math lab to improve their math skills in such areas as geometry, measurement, and problem solving.  We teachers continue to attend Matrix training workshops during the summer and into the school year.

Click on the following link for a detailed explanation of this grant program:

http://www.nj.gov/njded/techno/grants/matrix/

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Lesson Plans:

Geometer's Sketchpad I
Geometer's Sketchpad II

Student Work:

Introductory activity:     

     After learning to navigate on the computer with the geosketchpad tools, my students were asked to incorporate a variety of geometric shapes to create a self-portrait and then label with as many geometry terms as time allowed.  Here are a few examples:

Intro to sketchpad I
Intro to sketchpad II
 

     We proceeded from there to creating various graphs for comparisons:

Weather comparison bar graph

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