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The Sunday School Workshop Rotation Model

Sunday School Workshop Rotation is a concept where elementary age (1st through 5th) classrooms are designed into creative, media-inspired, kid-pleasing workshops that teach Bible stories. Our workshops include art, drama, audiovisuals, computers, Bible games, puppets and music. Classes rotate to new workshops each week for five weeks in the rotation period. Workshop teachers do not rotate, but rather stay in the workshop for the rotation period, repeating the lesson to a new group of children each week (with age appropriate modifications). During the four or five week period only one Bible story is taught. The entire rotation - every workshop, every week- is focused on learning that one Bible story!

Why Sunday School Workshop Rotation Works

• Sunday School Rotation is practical for the teachers and fun for the kids. It will be easier to recruit teachers, as they do not have to commit to an entire year of teaching. They volunteer for the story or workshop where they have expertise, be it drama, art or storytelling. There is minimal preparation for the teachers, since they will be doing the same workshop for the five weeks. The kids are excited to come to Sunday school and may even be greeted at the door to the Theatre workshop with a bag of popcorn! The next week the child will be going to the Bible computer lab!
• Sunday School Rotation emphasizes the learning environment. Children need to be excited about learning. They "read" the environment we create for them and these impressions help shape all the lessons that follow. Because the atmosphere is so critical to the learning process, the rooms are made to be exciting places. With no cost for the curriculum, those funds can be redirected to those little extras that can make a big difference in the classrooms.
• The Workshop Rotation Model uses multiple learning styles to teach the Bible lessons. Some students learn better by doing or saying, touching or tasting, moving or sitting still. The traditional lesson plan tries to do too much in one hour, which is a recipe for teacher frustrations and student overload. The Workshop Rotation model focuses on how to best organize the Sunday school to take advantage of different learning and teaching styles.
• This model recognizes teachers for who they are and who they are not. We can identify the gifts of our teachers and put them in a workshop where their talents can best serve the children. The weekly repetition of the lesson lets them improve and feel better about their teaching experience. Each workshop teaches a complete lesson through its own particular style or medium, using teachers skilled in those styles.
• The Sunday School Workshop Rotation model is adaptable to churches of different sizes and different facilities and to different theological points of view. The model has found its way into churches of all sizes and circumstances, from a church with 41 members to one that has 6000. It is the responsibility of the Children’s Education Board’s Curriculum committee to determine the content, scope and sequence of the curriculum.

The Shepherd

Each grade is assigned one shepherd who will guide the children to their appropriate workshop classroom each week during a rotation. The shepherd will be that familiar face that our Sunday School students will see each week, since the actual teachers of each workshop are different. The shepherd will come to the worship service through the children’s message (with their crook in hand) and lead the children down to the classrooms. It is important that the shepherds gather their "flock" together before entering the classrooms (remember that only the shepherds know which workshop each group is going to.)

The shepherd will assist the teachers with the lesson and with general classroom control. Because the shepherds accompany the same children for an entire rotation, the shepherds will be better acquainted with the children, their needs and their behaviors; therefore, the teachers will be looking to the shepherds for dispensing most of the discipline, keeping the students on task and managing student behavior.

5-year Workshop Rotation Plan

1. 2007-2008 School Year
2. The Beatitudes
3. The Bible
4. Christmas Through the Eyes of....
5. Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors
6. Easter Through the Eyes of Peter
7. The Walk to Emmaus
8. Summer: Prophets of the Old Testament
9. VBS: Paul (conversion, prisoner, letter-writer, preacher, tentmaker)
10. 2008-2009 School Year
11. Faithful People of the Old Testament
12. Jacob & Esau
13. The Songs of Christmas
14. Mary, Mary, Mary
15. The Calling of the Disciples
16. The Transfiguration
17. Summer: The Call of Moses and the Exodus
18. VBS: The Call of Moses and the Exodus
19. 2009-2010 School Year
20. The 10 Commandments
21. The Good Samaritan and Neighbors
22. The Christmas Story
23. The Prodigal Son
24. Lent & Temptation in the Wilderness
25. Parable of the Talents
26. Summer: Life in Bible Times
27. VBS: The Apprentice of 29 AD
28. 2010-2011 School Year
29. Abraham and Sarah
30. The Lord's Prayer
31. Christmas Legends & Traditions
32. Esther
33. Psalms
34. Resurrection
35. Summer: Summer of Parables
36. VBS: It's a Miracle!
38. 2011-2012 School Year
39. David
40. Isaiah the Prophet
41. Jesus as Fulfillment of Prophecies
42. The Baptism of Jesus
43. Good Friday
44. The Great Commission
45. Summer: Genesis Stories
46. VBS: Creation