The Workshop Rotation Model
Using age appropriate lessons and activities in our Sunday School, we support, nurture, and guide children's spiritual explorations and journeys. We use a rotation model for education, in which we present the same topic in four different ways over the course of four weeks. For example, to teach the story of Creation, one week students read stories about Creation from various religious traditions, another week they danced a reenactment of Creation, another week they drew pictures of Creation story and another week they went outside and talked about stewardship of God's Creation.
Purpose: The purpose of using the Workshop Rotation Model is to teach major/important Bible stories and concepts through kid-friendly multi-media (multiple learning styles) workshops. By hearing and experiencing the same story in a variety of ways, for four weeks in a row, children learn, not only through important repetition, but through using different parts of their brains. One child may learn best through hearing the story (storytelling), another through acting it out (drama, puppets), another through creating something that links directly to the story (the clay bowl in which Jacob offered the stew to Esau in exchange for the birthright). Repetition is needed to create strong neural connections in our brains. From those, other connections can be made, and thus more and more pathways created. But the pathways need to be strongly built through repetition; otherwise they will be lost and learnings become temporary and disconnected.
The "breakup" of the children's classes is as follows:
• 3 and 4 year olds
• Kindergarten - 2nd Grade
• 3rd and 4th Grade
• 5th and 6th Grade
Biblical Stories for 2005-2006 Rotations:
September - Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Esau
- Genesis 24, 25:19-34, 27:1-45
- family lineage (Abraham and Sarah’s son Isaac)
- God can use us even though we are not perfect
October - David: Shepherd Boy to Warrior King
- I Samuel 15:17-23, 34-17:50
- David as a major Hebrew Bible character.
- Though the youngest, rather than the traditional oldest, David was chosen by God to do important work. We can, at any age, overcome big obstacles (our “Goliath’s”) when we ask for God’s guidance and help.
November - Psalms
- Psalms 1, 13, 23, 121
- To hear a different type of writing from the Bible (rather than narrative)
- To understand that those who wrote these (some by David, some by others) expressed both joy/praise and anger/pain to God
- To write their own as a way of connecting to the Bible as a living form (on- going, still applicable)
December - Advent/Pageant
- Matthew 2:1-6; Luke 2:1-20
- To understand the church year/Advent season
- To experience non-material centered ways of celebrating Christmas
- To intentionally experience “waiting”
January - Jesus in the Wilderness
- Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12,13; Luke 4:1-13
- To hear the metaphorical story of Jesus’ temptations
- To understand the Jesus was tempted in many of the same ways we are
- To explore our own temptations
- To understand that we can come out stronger when we live rightly; do the right thing even when it’s not the easiest way
February - Choosing the Twelve
- Luke 5: 1-11, 27, 28, 6:12-16
- “Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” - faith, belief
- Jesus called ordinary, everyday people to join him
- There will be times in our lives when we must just step out in faith
- Before making an important decision, Jesus spent time in prayer.
- We should follow his example.
March - Jesus’ Healings (one of)
- Luke 5: 17-26
- “and the power of the Lord was with him to heal”
- Jesus depended on God’s power and wholeness
- “When he saw their faith…”
- Jesus believed in people and was compassionate to the powerless.
April - Journey through Jerusalem (Easter is April 16)
- Matthew 21: 1-17; chapters 26,27,28
- Jesus’ message was popular with the common people; unpopular with the powerful.
- Holy Week takes us from joy to sorrow, and then back to joy.
May - Romans
- Romans 8:28 “We know that in all good things God works for good”; and
- Romans 12:21 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”
- Understand that this letter, and the other epistles, were written to the churches in various cities, helping them to become compassionate communities.
The 2004/2005 school year schedule was as follows:
• September: Noah and the Ark
• October: Moses - From Bulrushes to the Burning
Bush
• November: Ruth (Loyalty, Family, Refugees,
Friends)
• December: Angels Tell the Story
• January: People Jesus Encountered (Zacheus,
Nicodemus, Woman at the Well, etc.)
• February: Mary and Martha (contemplation vs. action)
• March: Conversion of Saul
• April: Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26)
• May: Timothy and Titus - Letters of Encouragement
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