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 making groaning sounds
Are standing in a row.
They each have worms between their teeth
That wriggle to and fro.
Each mummy chews on one more worm
Than the mummy to its right
The total number of these worms
Is eighty four tonight.
Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy Mummy
Work out the number of worms each of the seven mummies has between their teeth.

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

Grim Reaper 4 14 3 14

Starter of The Day Transum Mathematics Topics

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!]
Mrs Cranbury, Five Dock High
Awesome.
Transum,
Transum,
There’s only one thing I don’t like about Halloween… which is ….
Transum,
While October 31st is widely celebrated as Halloween, it's also recognized as World Magic Day! This special day offers a perfect opportunity to delve into the enchanting world of 'Mathemagic.' Explore the dedicated section on Mathemagic to uncover the mystical intersection of mathematics and magic. Let the wonders of numbers bewitch you this Halloween!
Frank Skinner's Podcast,
The comedian Frank Skinner once said: "I asked an audience how many people had seen a ghost, eight people put their hands up to say that they had seen a ghost, then I asked them how many of them had seen Papua New Guinea... " more...

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.

Previous Day | This starter is for 31 October | Next Day

Answers

Teacher, do your students have access to computers such as tablets, iPads or Laptops? This page was really designed for projection on a whiteboard but if you really want the students to have access to it here is a concise URL for a version of this page without the comments:

Transum.org/go/?Start=October31

However it would be better to assign one of the student interactive activities below.

Laptops In Lessons

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

Transum.org/go/?to=Treat

Fancy some Midnight Magic Mixture? You will need to scale up the ingredience in this recipe:

Transum.org/go/?to=ddht

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