Kim Dial, Director of Christian Education (908) 766-1108 Ext 5

There are many opportunities to contribute your skills and talents in the ministry of Christian education. Contact Kim Dial, Director of Christian Education (766-1108 x5), if you are interested in becoming a part of this important ministry or would just like more information about these exciting opportunities.

Program Descriptions

Workshop Rotation – A New Model for Sunday School

The History

The Workshop Rotation Model was first developed in the Chicago in the early ’90s by a number of Presbyterian churches seeking to solve their chronic Sunday School problems: boring curriculum, boring classrooms, boring teaching methods, bored kids, and low bible literacy. These churches wanted to teach bible stories in a creative manner every week. The solution they developed, called the Workshop Rotation Model, has been adopted and adapted by hundreds of churches in many different denominations. Bishop Janes switched to the Workshop Rotation Model in September 2001. The response from the students and their parents has been tremendous.

Key Principles

The Key Principles of Workshop Rotation Model are:

• Teach major Bible stories and concepts through kid-friendly multimedia workshops: Art workshops, Drama, Music, Games, Audio-visual, Puppets, Computers, Cooking and any other educational media available through the skills and interests of the congregation. The rotation model reorganizes the way we teach, not what we teach.
• Teach the same Bible story in all of the workshops for five weeks, rotating the children to a different workshop (and a different learning experience) each week. During that period of time, the story they learn is the same in each workshop. Children love repetition and need it to remember their lessons. Because each of the workshops teaches though different styles of learning, the students don’t get bored. Instead, this multiple-intelligences approach enhances the learning process
• The same teacher in each workshop for all five weeks teaching the same lesson week after week to the different classes coming in. Teachers teach in the workshop of their strength and adjust the activity and focus in accordance with age appropriate modifications.

To enact these principals we are:

• Turning rooms into multi-dimensional learning environments: For example a Drama room, Art room, Computer room, Storytelling room, Movie room, Cooking lab, Map room, etc.
• Having adult volunteers work in rooms where their particular passion and gift focus one entire lesson hour on one main learning medium
• ‘Rotating’ a different set of children each week to a particular learning environment – hence the concept “Rotational” or “Multi-dimensional” learning environments.
• Repeating Biblical Stories (themes or units) over a series of four-five weeks so that the children experience the same story through different modalities over a short course of time.
• Giving permission to artisans and other creative people from within our congregation to create “enhanced learning environments” utilizing all the different ways of learning.

The Workshop Rotation Model Sunday School Schedule

A typical Sunday School rotation would look something like:

Fall 2009 Rotation Classes

“Teach Me To Pray”
P.I.T.A. and The Lord’s Prayer

On September 20, students K-5 began a new unit entitled “Teach Me to Pray.” This unit teaches children why we pray, what to pray, when to pray, and how to pray. A simple acronym – P.I.T.A. – helps children remember different elements of prayer.

P. – Praise God for being a wonderful and powerful creator.
I. – I’m Sorry: Tell God about our sins.
T. – Thank God for all the things God does and gives to us.
A. – Ask God to help us and to help others.

Each workshop focuses on one element or more elements of prayer. Included in this rotation are workshops in cooking, music, movie and games. The Lord’s Prayer is the Bible memory verse for the unit.