Four Pillars

Our Day Program 

It is our pleasure at Dawn to Dusk to offer a schedule of activities that provide opportunities for learning and continued education. Our activities are specifically designed to address these four pillars of health and wellbeing: 

1. activities of daily life skill-building, 

2. various forms of creative self-expression, 

3. activities that promote physical and mental wellbeing, and 

4. activities to support leisure skills, hobbies, and recreation. 

Listed below is a description and objective of each of the pillars, the variety of activities that align with each pillar, and the skills being developed towards the goals. The specific activities vary each week, but are spread across each month. 

Arrival & Breakfast

• Transition from home → bus → program

• Greetings (initiation of greeting vs. response to greeting)

• Putting personal items in locker

• Eating (independent vs. support from staff)

• Engaging in social conversations

• Did he/she identify what team they are on/what staff they have/any outings scheduled?

Morning Meeting

• Listening attentively/paying attention

• Did he/she raise a hand to speak or call out?

• Did he/she participate?

Household Chores

• Ability to follow directions (1-step, 2-step, 3-step)

• Fine motor skills (grasping an item, holding an item, picking an item up, manipulating a spray bottle, etc.)

• Gross motor skills (folding an article of clothing or a bed sheet, wipe a surface, manipulate a vacuum or broom, etc.)

• What level of prompt did staff provide?

• How did the individual interact with others (peers and staff) during the activity?

• Turn taking

• Asking questions, contributing to the conversation, etc.

Life Skills

• Menu Planning

  • Did he/she look at the menu independently or did staff read the menu to him/her?

  • How many choices was he/she provided?

  • What choice did he/she make?

  • How did he/she express their choice? (Verbally, gesturally via pointing or nodding his/her head, other)

  • How was the choice recorded? Did he/she write it down? Did the staff write it down?

Lunch

• Level of support from staff needed for the individual to eat lunch (staff fed him/her, needed assistance to open a drink or baggie or cut a food item, ate completely independently, etc.)

• Did he/she wash hands before lunch? Did the staff provide a prompt? How thoroughly did he/she was hands?

• Level of support provided by staff for the person to clean up the area after lunch? (verbal prompt, gestural prompt, hand-over-hand, etc.)

• Did he/she eat all at once or need reminders to eat, slow down while eating, drink reminders, etc.?

What’s Cooking?

• Following directions (recipe) and how the directions were provided by staff

  • What aspect of the cooking did he/she complete independently? 

  • What part of the activity did he/she need assistance with? What type of assistance (prompt support) was provided by the staff?

  • Fine motor skills (stirring, spreading, cutting, scooping, grasping kitchen utensils, passing the utensil to the next person, etc.)

• Sharing with others

  • Waiting for his/her turn, for staff to provide ingredients

  • Waiting to eat (not eating the ingredients but waiting until the entire activity is finished and the staff gives permission to eat)

Snack & Pack Up

• Waiting patiently while snack is passed out

• Packing up personal belongings and items 

• Cleaning up after snack is finished

• Sitting at the correct bus table

Dismissal

• Waiting to leave until bus is called

• Following directions (sitting in dismissal room or roaming elsewhere)

• Ability to sit with peers and tolerate noise/environment

• Any additional support (verbal reminders, noise canceling headphones, etc.) needed?

Music Enrichment

• Following directions (play when directed, rest when directed, were additional verbal prompts needed?)

• Taking turns

• Chair set up- did he/she need help? Were the chairs already set up? Did he/she choose where to sit?

• Engagement- did he/she engage with the activity or just sit and attend the activity?

• Did he/she assist the instructor in any way? 

• Did he/she volunteer to help the instructor or others?

• Following patterns of play

• Passing/sharing materials

Staff Craft

• Following directions (did he/she read the directions independently? Did staff verbally provide directions? How many directions was the individual able to follow at one time?)

• Sharing materials 

• Fine motor skills (peeling stickers, folding paper, cutting with scissors, using glue, etc.)

• Spatial reasoning (deciding where different elements go on the craft)

• Did he/she need help at any point during the activity? How did he/she communicate this to staff?

• Asking for materials

Music w/ Mike

• Dancing vs. remaining seated

• Did he/she request a song? How did the individual make the request?

• Waiting his/her turn to sing with Mike

• Independent engagement with music (dancing, playing drums, piano, egg shakers, using other manipulatives such as scarves, etc.) vs. staff-encouraged or staff-led engagement

• Interacting with peers

• Singing along to the music

• Spatial awareness (was he/she dancing in their area or running/jumping all over?)

• Did they choose to engage in another activity while the music was playing? If so, how did they express their choice? Who assisted?

Get Creative

• Following directions (did he/she read the directions independently? Did staff verbally provide directions? How many directions was the individual able to follow at one time?)

• Sharing materials 

• Fine motor skills (peeling stickers, folding paper, cutting with scissors, using glue, etc.)

• Spatial reasoning (deciding where different elements like colors, textures, and materials go on the craft)

• Did he/she need help at any point during the activity? How did he/she communicate this to staff?

• Asking for materials

• Appropriate use of materials (did he/she sprinkle glitter or dump it all out? Did staff provide support? What kind of support?)

Creative Writing

• Did he/she answer questions or make any contributions to the pre-lesson discussion?

• How did the individual express his/her ideas? (Verbally, written, communication device, etc.)

• Did he/she write an appropriate response to the prompt?

• How did the person indicate if they needed help?

• Was the person able to write their answers or did they dictate to a staff member?

• Fine motor skills- writing, gripping a pencil, erasing, etc.

Artist Study

• Following directions (did he/she read the directions independently? Did staff verbally provide directions? How many directions was the individual able to follow at one time?)

• Sharing materials 

• Fine motor skills (peeling stickers, folding paper, cutting with scissors, using glue, etc.)

• Spatial reasoning (deciding where different elements go on the craft)

• Did he/she need help at any point during the activity? How did he/she communicate this to staff?

• Asking for materials

Just Bead It!

• Fine motor skills (picking up a bead, stringing the bead, tying a knot, etc.)

• How much assistance did the individual need to complete the project?

• Was he/she able to follow directions or did he/she need assistance from staff?

• Choice making (colors, project to choose, etc.)

• Pattern recognition and following/counting

Health Matters

• Gross motor skills- jumping, walking, stretching, lunging, squatting, kicking, punching, etc.)

• Was he/she able to follow along with the instructor and tempo (Tai Chi vs. Zumba)

• Spatial awareness and safety (did he/she maintain personal space and safety or was he/she moving all over and bumping into people?)

• Balance

• Following directions

• Counting (number of reps)

Garden Club

• Fine motor skills- gripping garden tools, potting plants, pouring water, sprinkling seeds, scooping dirt, patting and spreading dirt, picking vegetables, etc.

• Tolerance to be messy/dirty

• Gross motor skills- aiming the hose

• Following directions

Mindful Meditation

• Sitting quietly and still

• Choosing where to sit and whom to sit next to

• Did the individual engage with their seat neighbor or not? 

• Listening to the meditation

• How long was the individual able to sit down for? Did he/she require any prompts to engage in the activity?

Reading & Relaxation

• Sitting quietly and still

• Choosing where to sit and whom to sit next to

• Did the individual engage with the people sitting near them?

• Listening to the story

• Initiating a request for a story

• Making a choice of what book to read (how many choices were given? How did he/she express the choice?)

• Waiting for the story they want to hear if not read first//continuing to sit quietly after his/her story choice was read and others pick a story

Community Collaborative

• Following directions

• Fine motor skills- separating newspaper pages, tying knots on the blankets, using scissors, picking up utensils, stirring/scooping/etc. if the activity involves cooking, putting items in baggies, folding napkins, etc.

• Measuring with a ruler, yard stick, measuring cups, etc. (activity dependent)

• What prompts did staff provide?

• How much of the activity was the individual able to complete independently? What aspects of the activity did he/she need help with? How did he/she express that help was needed? How did the staff respond? What was the result?

• Taking turns

Book Club

• Sitting quietly and still

• Choosing where to sit and whom to sit next to

• Did the individual engage with the people sitting near them?

• Listening to the story

• Answering pre-reading questions

• Answering post-reading questions (how did the individual express their thoughts?)

• Paying attention (looking at the reader, not engaging in disruptive talking or other activity)

• Asking relevant questions to the book or topic being discussed

Recreation

• Choosing which game or activity to engage with (how many choices provided? Who provided the choices? What was the individual’s response?)

• Engaging with peers or working independently

• Sharing

• Taking turns (especially for board games)

• Cleaning up after the game or activity is complete

• Following game directions and rules

• Sportsmanship and building social skills

Social & Leisure Time

• Initiating conversation

• Responding to conversation initiation by others

• Did he/she choose to sit or engage with others or to be on his/her own?

• Was there any conflict or frustrations presented?

• Was the individual observed laughing, smiling, yelling, crying, etc.?

• In what way did the individual express him/herself? (verbally, gesturally, communication device, ASL, etc.)

• Did he/she request to engage in an activity? How? What activity? Was the activity available (i.e. walk, quiet room access, etc.)?

Sensory Bins

• Choosing to participate in this activity

• Requesting a specific sensory bin item or did he/she simply accept what was provided?

• Taking turns with the specific bins (beans, rice, slime, etc.)

• Following directions (i.e. pour the beans into the bowl using the cup, find all the farm animals hidden in the bins, etc.)

• Did he/she keep the sensory items in the bin or dump the bin out? How long did he/she remain engaged with the bin? Did he/she use their fingers or use a tool to engage with the sensory bin?

• Fine motor skills- picking up individual beans and toys in the bin, manipulating spoons and cups to scoop, mixing with a stick, etc.

Summer Fun Games

• Gross motor movement- walking on a line, jumping, tossing a ball or beanbag or ring onto a target, ducking under a rope or pole, rolling a ball along a course, swinging a badminton racket, rolling dice, jumping jacks, catching a ball, balancing an egg on a spoon, bouncing a ball, shooting a basketball at the hoop, etc.

• Taking turns/waiting in line

• Cheering on others while they take their turn

• Blowing (bubbles)

• Sportsmanship and building social skills

S.T.E.M.

• Following directions

• Asking topic-related questions

• Fine motor movement- folding a paper, cutting with scissors, sticking a peg into a hole or slot, picking up small items like cables, wires, blocks, marbles, etc.

• What kind of staff support was needed or provided?

• How did the individual express that he/she needed help? How did the staff respond?

BINGO

• Identifying numbers and letters

• Listening (for the next number)

• Initiation of covering the free space or waiting to be told or leaving in blank (all choices to be made!)

• Calling out “Bingo” at the appropriate time (initiation of a verbal output)

• Cheering for others who win

• Maintenance of attention and engagement throughout the activity (did the staff provide redirection or encouragement? Did the individual continue to pay attention after they got bingo?)

Jeopardy

• Listening to the caller

• Taking turns with others to answer questions

• Expressing the answer

• Expressing that he/she does not know the answer and asking for help

• Cheering on others

Nature Club

• Following directions

• Fine motor skills- picking up nature items like leaves, rocks, etching using a crayon, tying knots, folding paper, etc.

• Identifying insects and animals

• Differentiating between different images