Halloween Writing Activity - Haunted House for Sale

Haunted House for Sale is a descriptive, persuasive, and creative writing activity that will motivate even your most reluctant writers to write! This Halloween activity encourages writers to show not tell and use their most powerful words in order to "sell" a haunted house.

This is a GREAT writing activity for Halloween—and a fun display for your October bulletin board! It also hits several Writing standards across grades 2-5.

The focus of this activity is to sell a Haunted House. Your students will use their knowledge of persuasive, descriptive and creative writing to convince the reader to buy a house from them. The catch: It's haunted!

Everyone will have a blast writing all about their haunted house, but their challenge lies in putting a positive spin on things so someone will actually want to buy it. This is a student favorite every year!

Your students will be directed to create an informational booklet to describe every detail of a haunted house. As the #1 Real Estate Agent in the state, they’re expected to SELL IT! Can they do it?!

Pages Included:

Title Page

Introduction

Zoom In: Front Yard

Zoom In: House

Zoom In: Step Inside (x2)

Zoom In: Backyard

Sell It: Persuade the Reader

All pages include specific directions, a checklist of “Things to Consider”, and a suggested range of sentences. This makes it easy for students at all levels to work independently! They will have to "zoom in" on specific features of the haunted house, challenging them to SHOW the reader, not tell. If your students need more space, simply print out another copy of the page needed and they can attach it into their book.

My books are set up with the writing on the right side of the page, and an illustration to match it drawn on the left. You can arrange yours however you prefer, or have your students choose how they want it set up!

A front and back cover page is included and can be printed on card stock paper for durability, if preferred!

This is a great writing activity to review adjectives and point of view, too! I instruct my students to NOT use the words: I, me, my. It should read like a housing listing you’d read in the newspaper or online. This is more challenging than it sounds. They want to write an elaborate story about being in a haunted house… stop them and correct them. This is meant to be a description of specific details of a haunted house. Not a creepy narrative story.

Use this activity during your writing block, it works well with a writing workshop model. Or have students complete it during centers. I suggest beginning with a brainstorm of a haunted house… looks like, sounds like, feels like… or if you’d prefer, focus on nouns, verbs and adjectives! I know this will quickly become a favorite activity that you use year after year!

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