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Question

Dear Mitch,

I've heard from colleagues over the years about the costumes you come up with for Halloween. The thing that everyone seems to say is that they're perfect for math teachers and students who want to do something with a math theme.  Could you post some before I have to decide what I'm going to be this year?  (I'm new to teaching, and even newer to teaching as a math specialist for a middle school in New Jersey.)

Thanks,

Mr. B 

Answer

Dear Mr. B.,

Sure!  

A few of my favorite ones which I've posted over the years (and which have been fun for me to adorn myself) are:

1. Wearing a hat with a small plant growing out of the top of it (Gee-I'm-a-tree), or "geometry"

2. dressing up as a lion and taking a maker to put numbers all over it (a "number lion")

3. If you could somehow get yourself to look like a cage, particularly a bird cage, either by covering a large box that you wear with black and white graph paper and drawing a door on it, etc., or actually wearing part of a discarded piece of chicken wire from the science department, etc., and paint the phrase "This cage contains Polly" near the bottom of the costume, making it look like a label on a cage in a lab.  The empty cage will transform you into an image of a "POLYGON." 

For more, check out the posts from previous Halloweens, which can be found using Google and searching: math Halloween costumes. 

I hope this helps.  Have a great holiday, and let us know how it goes.  And good luck with your students! 

Mathematically yours,

Mitch