Comstock Park — In the market for a house? Well, third-grader Sophie Weeks might have the perfect place. It has nine bedrooms and seven bathrooms, comes with a coffin bed and eight free pets: a rat, three black cats and four bats.
Oh, and it also may be haunted.
“Does the coffin close on you when you are sleeping?” asked classmate Juniper Lyons, with Sophie responding yes. “I don’t want it then,” Juniper decided.
Third-graders at Pine Island Elementary were practicing their persuasive writing skills by becoming “real estate agents” and selling a haunted house.
“Persuasive and opinion writing is part of the third-grade curriculum,” said teacher Rachel Haveman. “We introduce the topic by tying it in with Halloween, something which they have a high interest in right now.”
Location and Amenities
The instructions were to put on their “sales hats” and use adjectives to describe the house they want to sell, said third-grader Kai Drake. Students brainstormed the words before writing their sales pitch.
“From there, we have to use some of our spooky words to kind of persuade a person to buy the house,” said Kai, whose house had seven bedrooms and bathrooms, cost about $100,000 and was located on Spooky Skeleton Avenue. It also included ghosts, who would play video games with you, and a black cat.
Juniper’s home also had monsters who would help with choirs, ghosts that flew around, bats that dropped candy and witches making food, she said — adding that poisons were not added to the food.
Knowing Your Market
Students in teacher Allison VanSolkema’s class designed their houses with a specific audience in mind. Snahalata Sharma, for example, said she created the perfect home for a witch.
“It has a fabulous potion room with the finest potions,” she said. “There is a haunted broom closet that holds extra brooms, and it has a ginormous cauldron if you want to get some unpleasant revenge.”
Hudson Snellink said his abode, designed for a werewolf, came with dead people so the werewolves could eat them.
Considering his market, which was “Goosebumps,” like the book series, Freddie Curle said his haunted house was located in the country because it was easier for residents to come and go. It also had a black cat and a brewing station to make potions once the premade ones were gone.
“It is only available for a limited time, because I can’t sell a house forever,” Freddie said.
Read more from Comstock Park:
• Students find science the key to solving a whodunit
• It’s official! Pine Island’s second floor now open
