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Workshop Zone
Im delighted that youve chosen Workshop Zone Rotation Curriculum to help you plant seeds of discipleship in the lives of children. Workshop Zones unique approach to teaching Gods Word provides kids with faith-building experiences designed to build a strong biblical foundation for their walk with Christ. Exploring Gods truth through storytelling, art, drama, video, science, games and other mind-stimulating activities allows kids to learn the way God made them to learnutilizing all the pathways hes built into their minds and hearts. Ive written this program over the last several years as part of the ministry to the children I serve at Christ Church of Oakbrook. Its been wonderful to see our children (and, surprisingly, the adult volunteers who teach them) develop a real-life understanding of what it means to know Jesus and be his disciple. These are the goals weve set for this ministry, the goals that form the foundation of Workshop Zone.

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Kids will

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s confess Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. s celebrate who God is as they worship. s commit to following Christs example with their behavior and attitudes. s convey the love of God in their relationships and interactions with the world. s cultivate their prayer voice. s catalyze change in the world by becoming missions-minded. s connect with Gods Word as their instruction manual for life. s contribute to the Body of Christ through their time, gifts and talents. s
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Yearly Themes

Each year of Workshop Zone is organized around a theme that focuses on key Bible stories through a specific lens of faith. This first year, the Year of Faith, explores the lives of faith heroes of the Bible. As kids unwrap these God-breathed stories week after week, theyll discover that God, their Abba, uses faithful people to bring about his kingdom today, just as he did long ago.

Joshua: Courageous Faith David: Faith vs. Force Faith in the Furnace Faith Finds the Messiah Daniel: Faith Faces Lions A Lame Man Healed: Faith Goes Through the Roof Peter: Faith with Wet Feet Resurrection Faith

Faith in Philippi

While we recommend using the units in this order, you may choose to create a different sequence for your church.

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Nine four-week units of the Year of Faith are available on separate CDs.

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Eight

Complete Workshops

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Each month-long unit contains eight complete workshopsfour for 2nd and 3rd graders and four for 4th and 5th graders. The various workshops approach the Bible story through different storytelling methods and activities that match, stretch and celebrate the different ways kids learn.

The workshops in each unit include:


GOOD SHEPHERDS INN

SEASIDE STUDIO

Kids settle into a cozy atmosphere and enjoy a Bible storyteller drama, then make and munch a yummy snack that ties in to the story.
SALT AND LIGHT SHOP

For the artist in every child! Kids create personal artistic expressions of their spiritual growth and response to the Bible story.

STARGAZER THEATER

Science and nature exploration leads to wonderful discoveries about our Creator and the stories he gives us to live by.

Let kids be the stars! This workshop sets the stage for Bible study through all kinds of performing artspuppets, music and drama.

MOUNTAINTOP PRODUCTIONS

TEMPLE COURT

The tantalizing smell of popcorn welcomes kids to this workshop where they view and analyze clips that expand the scope of the Bible story.

With a focus on spiritual formation, kids openly explore and express their growing faith with real life responses.

GAME ZONE

FAITH IN MOTION

Heres a chance to get rowdy with lively games that challenge kids to recall and relate to important points of the story.

Put those growing minds to the test with an interactive Bible story review followed by fun and fascinating game shows such as Holy Word Squares, Bible Jeopardy, Who Wants to Be a Bible Scholar and more!

During one four-week unit, the 2nd and 3rd graders attend four workshops while the 4th and 5th graders attend the other four. If you follow the units in the recommended order, the age levels will swap workshops in the next unit. So, over a two-month, two-unit period, kids from both age levels will be able to enjoy all eight workshops.

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Learning

Strategies

The Bible story is the core, the constant focal point and the driving force in every Workshop Zone lesson. In a four-week unit kids will hear and participate in the Bible story every week, each time with a different technique and point of view. The kids respond to the story through various workshop media, then wrestle with how to carry the Bible truth into their everyday lives. This brings us to a colossal concept God has kept before me as Ive developed the Workshop Zone curriculum.

Its about transformation, not information.


You can pack kids heads full of Bible verses and names of patriarchs, the Ten Commandments, the Fruit of the Spirit and the Armor of God. But thats just information (albeit the best information) until it hits the heart, knits itself into the fabric of kids beings and surfaces in transformed lives. Transformation is a God-sized goal. Our task is to be vessels the Holy Spirit uses to offer faith-challenging experiences. The rest goes on Gods plate!

Teaching for Transformation


So how do we work toward life change? What elements do we include in the precious time we have, so kids not only "get" Bible knowledge, but synthesize the information, put it into practice and take it to every corner of their lives? Ive followed a careful strategy to focus the direction and scope of the lessons toward life change. As you look through the workshops, youll see that each objective has two designations.

Blooms Taxonomy (which categorizes levels of learning that we hope to achieve in


educational settings) monitors the depth of each task.

s As we teach kids Gods Word, we begin with knowledge, which measures mastery of the subject matter.
conduct lessons that help translate this information s When we weve moved to the next level, comprehension. so kids can understand it clearly, Obviously, we to move beyond these basics s theyve learnedwantdemonstrating life application. so that kids can appropriate what by
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kids s Analysis happens when their recognizeorpersonalized meanings in what they are experiencing and connect it to situation claim the message as their own. experiences, they begin to s As kids draw conclusions about the information andsynthesize this information into combine information and use the ideas theyve learned to their world view. final level s Theformation. of learning, evaluation, invites kids to make choices that affect their spiritual

Howard Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences offers incredible insight


into how kids receive and process information. Gardner teaches that we each possess at least eight intelligences, some in greater measure than others.

Linguistic/verbal Logical/mathematical Spatial Bodily/kinesthetic

Musical Interpersonal/relational Intrapersonal/introspective Naturalistic

GARDNERS EIGHT INTELLIGENCES1

Linguistic-verbalKids who are high in this intelligence are word smart. Logical-mathematicalMath smart kids demonstrate a preference for logic and numbers. SpatialPicture smart kids see the visual-spatial world accurately and can graphically
represent and manipulate what they see.

Bodily-kinestheticBody smart children do best when they can move and manipulate
learning tools and use their bodies to express feelings.

MusicalMusic smart children may or may not be young protgs; music stimulates
their imaginations and heightens their responses.

Interpersonal/relationalPeople smart children keenly observe others and interpret body


language and other signals to determine what people are thinking and feeling.

Intrapersonal/introspectiveChildren who are self-smart have a strong capacity to be


reflective; theyre also quick to exhibit a sense of wonder and experience ah-ha! moments.

NaturalisticNature smart kids love plants, animals and the outdoors.


1.Gardner, Howard. Multiple Intelligences, the Theory in Practice, Basic Books, New York, 1993.

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Every child in your ministry is a complex, God-designed mix of all eight intelligences. And theyre all capable of maturing in each intelligence. Workshop Zone lessons thoughtfully use all these God-given pathways to childrens minds and hearts. We call this intentional use of all the intelligences a multidimensional approach to learning. When this process is nurtured and informed by Gods Holy Spirit, we see the exciting result of childrens lives being transformed into Gods likeness. And that, after all, is our hope and our calling.

Tapping

Hidden Resources

Implementing rotation Sunday school is not a go-it-alone proposition. When your congregation catches the vision and scope of this unique ministry, youll be amazed at how gifted people who have never considered being involved with children come out of the woodwork to make it happen.

6 Painters and muralists love lending their talents to transform church beige walls and
drab hallways with gorgeous colors and dramatic Bible scenery.

6 Those who can sew can contribute by providing robes for the shepherds, costumes for
drama workshops and innumerable clever craft projects.

6 The handyman and handymaam whose skills have conquered home-improvement


projects delight in building lofts, puppets stages and unique storage pieces for workshop rooms.

6 People with design and upholstery skills can make invaluable contributions to creating
captivating workshop rooms.

6 Teen and adult Sunday school classes and small groups find that adopting and
completing a workshop room provides a memorable and meaningful community-building experience.

6 Garage-sale shoppers, bargain hunters and mildly compulsive shopaholics love an


excuse to hunt down exactly the right props and supplies.

6 Folks with gifts of organization can assemble and distribute supplies for each workshop
on Saturdays so your shepherds and workshop leaders can focus on teaching the children.
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6 Gifted musicians whose style doesnt match big church can provide wonderful largegroup worship experiences for your kids.

6 Mission volunteers are priceless resource people who can contact missionaries, design and
set up marketing displays and help motivate kids to serve their global family. Do you begin to see the potential for uniting diverse members of your congregation in support of your Workshop Zone ministry?

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12
It takes all of us and the diversity of our gifts drawn together in Gods love to form the Body of Christ. These people are the hidden parts Paul speaks of. While they might never dress in Bible-time costumes to tell a Bible story or lead a science project that involves goo and slime, there are talented individuals in your congregation who will eagerly respond to Gods tap on the shoulder and use their gifts in support of giving children opportunities to learn Gods truth in unforgettable ways. The blessings that await them are unimaginable.

Setting

Form age level classes of 15-20 kids. Assign two to three shepherds for each class who will covenant to stay with the kids for the full nine months of the school year. (With three shepherds, one or two can cover for the others occasional absence.) As kids rotate to a different workshop each week, their shepherds accompany them and teach the first 20 minutes of class.

Your Volunteer Staff


Youll need two categories of volunteers: shepherds and workshop leaders. SHEPHERDS are the foundation of your rotation program. These dedicated servants make a commitment to lead one flock for the entire school year. As the children travel to a different workshop each week, shepherds provide continuity and a warm sense of community for their classes. They teach the first twenty minutes of class, guiding the spiritual formation of children through Bible memory work, prayer, missions and worship. At the end of Shepherd Time, shepherds turn the class over to a workshop leader.
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Up Your Classes

WORKSHOP LEADERS make a one-month commitment to teach a lesson that springs from their particular area of giftedness. Those who love storytelling, cooking, art, science, drama, creative movement and games can sign up to teach workshops that focus on those methods and media. Rather than feeling pressure to be a jack of all trades teacher who must cover every aspect of a Sunday school lesson, workshop leaders find a fabulous outlet for their energies and abilities by teaching from their strengths. They prepare just one lesson and teach it to different groups of kids four weeks in a row. Workshop leaders walk away from this assignment blessed, with a new sensitivity to Gods Word and that flying high feeling that comes when kids questions and discoveries take them into the God-Zone. Something special happens for adults when they put training wheels on discipleship to help kids learn to worship, grow and serve. Its an experience they cherish, and theyll be back for more.

Space and Supplies: Use What You Have!

Do you need eight separate, specially-themed rooms to teach this rotation curriculum? Absolutely not! Your main objective is to make your rooms welcoming and kid-friendly. Simple changes such as freshening the walls with bright paint, decorating with colorful posters and borders or hanging interesting objects from the ceiling go a long way toward giving rooms spark and kid appeal. Put out a call for people who can paint, sew, build and decorate and you will have more than enough ideas to create captivating learning spaces without breaking your budget. What if you dont have all the supplies a workshop calls for? You look over the supply list and realize you dont know a boomwhacker from a water tube. Many of the specialty items called for in the Workshop Zone curriculum are investments youll use again and again throughout the five-year cycle. Youll find sources for purchasing these items at the end of every workshop. In lieu of purchasing unique supplies, consider borrowing them through connections with a preschool, school district or park-related recreational services. Or, do as I have done when a product Ive used previously disappears from the marketplace: substitute an inexpensive, readily available item. This gives you an opportunity to infuse the program with your own special brand of creativity. Remember, the fun activities are supports for the Bible storytheyre not the key focus of the lesson. So adapt, use what works in your environment, and celebrate as your children grow in their love and knowledge of God.
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Personal Preparation

Equip Yourself s for the Journey


The rotational/multidimensional approach to Sunday school requires

thoughtful preparation and buy-in from your church. Its work, admittedly, but the rewards are beyond anything I can describe. Id like to recommend two valuable resources that will equip you to carry out this ministry faithfully and effectively. Workshop Wonders, The Ultimate Guide to Rotation Sunday School gives you a comprehensive look at this model for Christian education. Youll learn about everything from its grass-roots beginning to getting your church on board, recruiting and the nuts and bolts of implementing the program. I co-authored this book with Mickie ODonnell Gutierrez, a valued co-worker and one of the founders of the rotation movement. Weve packed Workshop Wonders with practical insights and heartwarming encounters with kids and volunteers gleaned from years of developing and implementing multidimensional learning in our churches. This valuable volume will be your ever-present coach as you bring Workshop Zone to the children in your ministry. Great Spaces, Learning Places equips you to redesign your childrens ministry area for optimum learning. Besides building a distinguished career in interior design, author Jan Hubbard has served with the founders of the rotation movement since its beginning. She shares knowledge gained from experience guiding churches across the nation in repurposing and redesigning childrens learning spaces. Her topics include how environment affects kids ability to learn, a crash course in age-appropriate design, stimulating creativity in your design team, developing a strategic plan, faux painting, muraling, building to code and much, much more. Beautiful photos of Jans work will inspire and motivate your team to give the kids in your care the very best place to embark on their journey of discipleship.

BY

GREAT SPACES LEARNING PLACES


JAN HUBBARD

CREATIVE ENVIRONMENTS FOR CHILDRENS MINISTRY

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Grades 2-3 Grades 4-5

Setting Up Your Rotation Schedule

You can adapt Workshop Zone to churches of nearly every size and physical situation. You, the kids, their parents and all of the servants who are part of this adventure will discover the life-giving renewal that God generates through this gift-based ministry to children. Lets take a look at how Workshop Zone can work in your ministry setting. If you have eight rooms or separate areas available, youre all set. Your rotation schedule will look like this for Unit One. Sunday # 1 Temple Court Good Shepherds Inn Sunday # 2 Stargazer Theater Faith in Motion Sunday # 3 Sunday # 4

Mountaintop Productions Game Zone Seaside Studio Salt and Light Shop

If you teach the units in the recommended order, the age levels will switch workshops the next month, so your rotation will look like this.

Sunday # 1 Grades 2-3 Good Shepherds Inn

Sunday # 2 Faith in Motion

Sunday # 3 Seaside Studio

Sunday # 4 Salt and Light Shop

Grades 4-5

Temple Court

Stargazer Theater

Mountaintop Productions Game Zone

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Adapt

and Overcome

t Perhaps your church has four rooms for childrens ministry. Create eight workshops by
using each half of the rooms for separate workshops.

t If you have small attendance and few volunteers, dont feel that you must use each room
each week. Choose one or two workshops for each age level and save the other workshops to teach on different weeks.

t Do you a have large group of children and only one large room? Set up workshops in
the corners. Movable dividers and appropriate props set the stage. Let kids imaginations fill in the blanks. Think about other usable areaslittle-used hallways, large storage areas, church kitchens, fellowship rooms, balconies, even wide stairways with spacious landings!

t Suppose you have one room and a small group of children. No problem. Combine age
levels and make that one room a different environment each week. You might have a simple box of props for each environment. Let early arrivers help you set up. Build mystery: Which fascinating workshop will children encounter this week?

t Many childrens ministry programs share space with a preschool or daycare. By working
together, you and the rooms other occupants can devise a quick change strategy that works well for both of you. Use opposite sides of room dividers, rolling supply carts and reversible fabric panels hung from ceilings. Ingenuity, imagination and innovation can help you create an excellent rotation program despite environmental challenges. Go onbeat the system!

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Workshop Zone s Adopt-a-Missionary Program

An Over view for Directors and Shepherds


The third Sunday of every month, the Shepherd Time is devoted to missions. Through the Adopt-a-Missionary program, kids will develop a relationship with a partner missionary. This is a wonderful opportunity for kids to correspond with missionaries your church supports. Kids are curious about the mysterious men and women who reach out to other people and cultures to become missionaries. Because kids are natural explorers, they want to discover who missionaries arenot just what they do. Once you have unpacked the essential role of a missionary, kids will be eager to take a further step in the mission journey by developing a personal relationship with these disciples. The Adopt-a-Missionary program requires beginningof-the-year set-up in coordination with your churchs missions committee. A Missions Liaison/Coordinator can be an invaluable help in setting up and facilitating this program. After you have a missionary placed with every class, your Missions Sunday will be quick and easy to maintain, and rewarding for the kids and encouraging for the missionaries they adopt.

Choosing Missionary Partners

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The first step is for the Missions Coordinator to choose a missionary for each class to adopt. Consider these criteria in choosing your missionary partners.

s Kid-friendly missionary partners typically have children of their own or have experience working in a childrens ministry setting. s You need reliable and consistent communicators. invited missionary needs s Thethrough mail and email. to be committed to communicating with the children monthly
to the missionary. Those in high risk areas may need to keep s Assess security risks reasons. Open communication may put these global partners a discreet profile for security at risk.

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It may be that your church supports missionaries who would be glad to be involved in this program. If you need to search outside the paradigm of your churchs missions program, these organizations are great sources for missionary partners.

Wycliffe Translators www.wycliffe.org 11221 John Wycliffe Blvd. Orlando, FL 32832 1-800-992-5433

Kids Alive International www.kidsalive.org 2507 Cumberland Dr. Valparaiso, IN 46383-2503 1-800-543-7330

Serving In Missions (SIM) www.sim.org P.O. 7900 Charlotte, NC 28242 1-800-521-6449

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Contact one of the suggested mission agencies (or use an agency with which your church already has a working relationship) to get names, addresses and email addresses of missionaries who are willing to communicate with the kids in your classes. Contact the missionaries to obtain biographical and family information as well as information about their ministry that you can share with the kids. Search books, magazines and the Internet to obtain cultural information about the country in which the missionary serves to include a 3-ring binder press kit.

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Creating Adopt-a-Missionary Press Kits

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Youll need a press kit for each class missionary. Each kit is assembled in a three-ring binder and individualized for every missionary partner. Include: the how-tos of building a relationship with the missionary a style guide for correspondence a journal-keeping area for all gathered information information about each missionary personal profile photos of the missionary, family and places they serve facts about their ministry organization a world map a regional map including the missionarys country facts about the country and culture
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a brief tutorial about what words to use when writing a missionary. For example, it is important to teach the children how a slang word in our culture can mean something very different in another part of the world. email format sheets allows the class to create one class email for the shepherd to send from the whole group. (A simple way to do this is to open Outlook and print out a blank email form so the kids feel like they are actually writing an email.)

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Equipping the Shepherds

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Before your fall launch, the missions liaison needs to meet with the shepherds to familiarize them with the program and hand off the press kits. Its especially helpful to pass on sensitive cultural issues that need to be taken into consideration during correspondence. Throughout the year, the missions liaison will facilitate the relationship-building process. If the class is having a difficult time contacting a missionary, the missions liaison can take steps to troubleshoot the situation. If political unrest occurs in an adopted missionarys country, kids will become quite concerned about what might happen to their new global friend. Theyll appreciate receiving updates.

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The Philosophy of AaM for Shepherds

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Part of the shepherds role is to help kids develop an awareness of the larger Church of which we all are a part and partner. The second aspect is the relationship-building nature of the project, which intimately connects the kids with a servant of the Great Commission. Four elements of this philosophy to consider are: Into all the Worldan emphasis on how anyone can step out of their known world into the unknown to serve Jesus. Through personal communication with a missionary, the children will discover that there are more similarities between world cultures than differences, and that a missionary is not a stranger but a global friend. ConsistencyThe project offers a consistent pattern for the children to follow throughout their Sunday school experience. The children will be eager for Mission Sunday. They anticipate the time spent writing to their missionaries and receiving the latest news from their global friends.
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Scope and DepthThe project must be more than a pen-pal relationship with someone far away. Youll offer learning situations involving the missionarys culture, country and children. Prayer SupportWhen you ask missionaries about their greatest needs, their nearly universal response is prayer. The greatest lesson for us to learn is that relationship-building begins and ends with prayer. The written word in communication is cherished, but prayer is a gift. Prayer support should be the greatest emphasis throughout the Adopt-a-Missionary project. The program is simple to sustain. On the first Mission Sunday, youll explain the Adopt-aMissionary Project to your class. Then, every third Sunday of the month youll bring updates from your missionary and compose a new class email. If a computer lab isnt available to you, plan to send it from home. Let your missionaries know the date you need responses so you can read the answers to the questions kids asked and pass on current prayer requests.

On a Personal Note
Youre about to embark on a marvelous adventure in childrens ministry. My prayer for you is that God will give you grace to recognize his presence as you obey his command to let the children come. And as you give the kids in your care the keys to Gods kingdom, I pray that you have a million opportunities to be Jesus. At His feet, Vickie Bare

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Permission to print this lesson granted for single church use. Copyright Vickie Bare. Printed in Workshop Zone Rotation Sunday School Curriculum by Cook Communications Ministries, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

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