Little Toot is a charming story about a real boat, a water taxi that operates in the Santa Barbara, California harbor. Readers get on board for a ride, with Little Toot pointing out everything along the way. Better yet, the reader drives the boat and has a chance to toot the whistle. Bonus: In the Credits page of the online version, there is a link to the real Little Toot’s web page!

Wrapping A Gift is an interactive make-it-yourself activity. Readers choose the wrapping paper and ribbons to wrap a virtual gift package. On the final page their gift design becomes part of a printable card. Bonus: Clip art collection and printable gift tags!

The Tides Pools activity set includes so much material that I have broken it into two separate study units. The first unit, Tide Pools, includes Exploring Tide Pools and two supporting books. Exploring Tide Pools is set up so that students can wander through in any order, finding exciting discoveries along the way. The second unit, Tide Pools Writing And Review, includes the tests and three writing activities. Bonus: Vocabulary Cards and a Photo Collection!

Annie’s Books Online is a section of Annie’s Resource Attic which has the main and anchor books from the various activity sets in HTML format. You can see all the action in these books online by going to them from your browser, just as you would go to any other web page. This page will serve as an index to all the online activity sets and you’ll find some tips below about what’s required to use these books successfully with whichever browser you are using.

Just in time for Halloween, this fun activity lets students create digital jack-o’-lanterns. In all, nine different faces are possible. The artwork is very three dimensional and realistic. Once a jack-o’-lantern is finished, students add a lighted candle, and finally gets to see what their creation will look like on Halloween night. Bonuses: Zip files of both the art and creepy sounds!

Remember those wonderful Lincoln logs we played with? Here’s a chance to build a virtual log cabin. When it’s finished, students use the magic of their imaginations to go inside and see the furnishings of a real cabin. There’s a surprise when they look out the window and see a bear looking in! Bonus: Log Cabin Clip Art collection to download!

Phishing is the practice of unscrupulous people setting up fake versions of legitimate web sites, often popular and excellent sites they know that many people will visit. Anti-Phishing Phil is an interactive game that teaches users how to identify phishing URLs, where to look for cues in web browsers, and how to use search engines to find legitimate sites. Play it FREE online!

I wanted to give you a heads-up about a site that offers a chance for students to do some real science. The Quake-Catcher Network offers a chance for you and your students to actually be a part of an earthquake detection network. The web site also includes science resource downloads about earthquakes, including PDFs aimed at grades K-12.

Ten Trucks uses photos and a “red fish, blue fish” style vocabulary to engage beginning readers and help them work with adjectives. There are all kinds of truck photos, ending with a very cool custom painted truck. Students use errorless and guided writing activities to work with adjectives. In the highest level writing activity, My Cool Trucks, students custom-paint their own cool truck images and write about them. Bonus: Lots of truck photos and clip art to download!

The Let’s Make A Wreath book gives students a chance to choose decorations for a wreath, then see what the completed wreath looks like lighted and hanging up. I went crazy on this one, with three choices of bow (gold, white, red), three choices of plant trimmings (pine cones, holly, poinsettias), and three novelty decorations to choose from (candy canes, gold stars, snowflakes). If you remember your math, that’s 27 possible wreaths! Bonus: ALL the art for download!