This morning was my last Step Into Storytime of the year! (I actually didn’t realize this until the end, when someone asked if there was going to be one next week, and I ran to check the calendar.) We started with seven or eight kids and ended up with about twelve, I think, plus a couple of babies.

• Welcome and announcements (this is where I should have mentioned that there wasn’t going to be a storytime the next two Mondays)
• “Hello Friends” song with ASL
• Name song (“____ is here today, ____ is here today, let’s all clap our hands, ____ is here today”)
• I Am Actually A Penguin by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Kasia Matyjaszek: Putting the longest book first in the set worked! The kids were pretty quiet and attentive and the grown-ups definitely enjoyed it. There is something to be said for getting the grown-ups’ engagement during storytime; it’s best if everyone enjoys the program.
• “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”
• Yoga cube
• Just Add Glitter by Angela DiTerlizzi and Samantha Cotterill: I encountered this one in a storytime for three- to five-year-olds and thought it could work for the younger kiddos also – and it did! (We did NOT do a related craft program.)
• Song cube: “If You’re Happy and You Know It”
• Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony
• Yoga cube
• Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton
• Song cube: “I’m A Little Teapot”
• Hickory Dickory Dock by Keith Baker: I asked the kids to make the animal noises on the appropriate pages (pig, horse, etc.) and they are so good at that.
• Yoga cube
• The Wonkey Donkey by Craig Smith, illustrated by Katz Cowley. (This one is so in demand in our library system right now that I bought my own copy.) We have a donkey hand puppet that I bring out as well, and the kids get to come up and pet it both before and after the book. And make the “hee-haw” sounds, of course! Lots of sound effects today.
• Song cube: “ABCs,” “Itsy-Bitsy Spider,” “Zoom Zoom Zoom, We’re Going to the Moon”
• Goodbye song with ASL
• Clean up mats and hand out Wonky Donkey coloring sheets (available on the author’s website) and bowls of crayons