“The Amazement Park”

(Updated 04/24/05 )

        "The Amazement Park" began in the fall 2001. It is be our Sunday School using the Workshop Rotation Model for students in grades 1 - 6. "The Amazement Park" is located on level 4. What is the Workshop Rotation Model? The Rotation Model teaches major Bible stories and concepts through kid-friendly multimedia workshops. The same Bible story is taught in all of the workshops for four or five weeks, rotating the kids to a different workshop each week. The students are with those in their same age group but they will not have the same classroom, as they will go to a different workshop each week.

Why would we teach the same lesson for four or five weeks? The model's philosophy recognizes that we all learn differently and that kids not only love repetition, but they need it to develop a lasting memory and understanding of content.
          You may be asking how this works on Sunday morning.  Let us try to share that with you, using the Calling of the Disciples rotation.  Each Sunday morning our children in grades 1 – 6 will all go to Disciple’s Depot.  There they will hear the Bible story, share joys and concerns, take up their offering and do attendance.  They will hear the same Bible story for 5 weeks, reinforcing their learning.  When the gathering time is finished they will go to a workshop with others in the grade.  For instance, the first week the 1^st and 2^nd graders may go to Goliath’s Skills & Games.  There they would have game activities that would help teach them the facts of the story of the Calling of the Disciples.  The 3^rd and 4^th graders may go to Creation Carousel, which is our art workshop.  There they would be involved in an art project.  The project would be such that the students would be interacting with the story, to understand the meaning behind it.  The 5^th and 6^th graders could possibly go to Thessalonians Theatre.  There the activity may be having them plan and act out a play, putting the story into 21^st century.  Once again, it would help them gain an understanding of what the story is saying to us.  The classes go to one workshop a week.  The second week they would all attend a different one.  Other workshops that may be offered during the five weeks are: J.C. Cinema which uses movies, T.V. and reporting, Esther’s Eatery which is a cooking workshop, and Bible Bytes which is a computer workshop.

            Why are we excited about this?  In this model of Sunday school the students are learning the stories in much more depth, with reinforcement from doing the same story over five weeks.  We realize that not all people learn the same way.  In rotation we have a greater chance of reaching all of our students at some point in the rotation.  Plus it is fun and exciting as we use creatively decorated workshop rooms to teach in.

         If you would like more information on the Workshop Rotation Model, please talk to Marilyn or check out the WoRM Web Site.