Halloween

A pumpkin weighed 6½ kg before it was carved. It now weighs 1½ kg. What fraction of its weight has been removed?
Pumpkin

How many ghosts are in the haunted house?
Here are some clues:
There are more than the number of days in October
There are less than the product of 7 and 5
The answer is an odd number
Ghost

Seven mummies in a row
Fifteen rows plus another two
I think it's time that you should go
Because all those mummies are after you
Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy
How many mummies are chasing you?

Bat Moon
How many bats?
Clue: A square number;
More than four squared;
Less than four cubed;
Even.

Grim Reaper Count your toes and hands and feet
Multiply those three sums
Add the month when ghosts all meet
Subtract the date halloween comes.

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Topics: Starter | Fractions | Mixed

Transum,
Here's a joke for the teacher:

Why do mathematicians think that Halloween is the same as Christmas?

Answer: 31 Oct = 25 Dec

[Think number bases!]
S. Hale, Woodchurch HS
Classes really enjoyed this starter, I split the class into groups and had a quiz of the five questions. It revised a lot of different maths the only criticism is that you have six mummies in a row and not seven as said in the question.

[Transum: The lost mummy has been found. Thanks for pointing it out]
Tom Howe, Barnwell Secondary School
A very good idea for a website because it promotes fun in maths.
E.Maginn, Bebington High
A fun starter that all my groups enjoyed!(Years 7,8+9)Pity there were only six mummies.
Karen, Mlps Albany Australia
My class and I would have liked to have had scary music accompanying the opening / clicking on windows - i.e. as it zooms in.

[Transum:Thanks for the suggestion Karen. A clap of thunder and a little music now accompanies the opening of the windows. Best experienced with your speakers turned up high!]

How did you use this starter? Can you suggest how teachers could present or develop this resource? Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for Maths teachers anywhere in the world.
Click here to enter your comments.

If you don't have the time to provide feedback we'd really appreciate it if you could give this page a score! We are constantly improving and adding to these starters so it would be really helpful to know which ones are most useful. Simply click on a button below:

Excellent, I would like to see more like this
Good, achieved the results I required
Satisfactory
Didn't really capture the interest of the students
Not for me! I wouldn't use this type of activity.

This starter has scored a mean of 3.4 out of 5 based on 336 votes.

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Answers

Casio Classwiz Calculator

There is currently a lot of talk about this new calculator being the best in its price range for use in the Maths classroom. The new ClassWiz features a high-resolution display making it easier to view numerical formulas and symbols but it isn't a graphical calculator as such (it has the capacity to draw graphs on your smart phone or tablet, via a scannable QR code and an app).

As well as basic spreadsheet mode and an equation solving feature you also get the ability to solve quadratic, cubic or quartic polynomial inequalities and the answer is given just as it should be written down, using the correct inequality symbols!

This calculator has a high-performance processor and twice the memory of previous models ensuring speedy operation and superior computational power.more...


	Teacher, do your students have access to computers? Do they have iPads or Laptops in Lessons? Whether your students each have a TabletPC, a Surface or a Mac, this activity lends itself to eLearning (Engaged Learning).

Here a concise URL for a version of this page without the comments.

Transum.org/go/?Start=October31

Here is the URL which will take them to a related student activity called 'Trick or Treat'.

Transum.org/go/?to=Treat

But if it is something less mathematical with a Halloween theme you want:

Transum.org/go/?to=hsquorder

Creative Commons Spooky sound effect (Ambient Darkness) is by D J Chronos at Freesound.org