Frequently Asked Questions - Workshop Rotation Model

How many workshops should we run?

First answer the following: What grades do you want to involve? Among those grades, how many classes do you currently run? What about class size: with fewer than five children, you lose the group dynamics and with more than 12-15, you lose those who are not relating to the approach.

If you are going to open this to 1st-6th Grade and have six classes, you would run six workshops at a time. If small individual class size means combining some grades, you would run fewer workshops.

What if I have six workshops and want to run each rotation/unit for only four weeks, as Cornerstones curriculum is designed?

In that case, not all classes get to all six workshops. That ends up working out very well, as some lessons are more verbal-linguistic than others. The youngest children simply don't attend those. The older classes can be put into workshops where the discussion is more sophisticated. On this model, you customize the program to fit your needs.

See Rotation Schedule Examples to discover a variety of ways to organize the rotations.

Do we have to stay with the same workshops all year?

No! Most of the workshops do not require special spaces and can be generic in the physical space. One church has a Bedouin Encampment set up permanently and simply places a facade of an Israelite home in front of it for Mary and Martha's Bed & Breakfast. One month, you may have the talent in your church for a video production and another month, you may be creating a drama. With Cornerstones, you design the choices of workshops based on the pool of teachers available to you in any month.

Which workshops require teachers with a lot of specialized knowledge?

The Video Live! Workshop needs someone who knows how to work a video recorder. The leader of the Puppetry Workshop will feel more comfortable if they have had some experience with puppets. The Bible Improv Workshop will run more smoothly if you have someone who has a sense of how to direct a play. The Created by the Spirit Workshop will always produce a piece of art, rather than craft, if you have someone who works with various media in art.

The remaining workshops can be filled with leaders who simply have an interest in the focus of that workshop. You can also match the focus to someone with a specific skill.

How much preparation time is involved?

Several weeks before the workshop is taught, you should consider what supplies will be needed for the workshop. While many of the supplies are common in a church or home setting, some need to be ordered by phone or online or tracked down in a craft store.

For what length of time are the lessons designed?

All lessons are designed for a one hour time period. If your classes are shorter than that, you simply have more options from which to choose.

My church shares space with a preschool or day care. Can I do this program?

You can still use this model in a shared-space church. What you want to accomplish, whether you are using a traditional model or the Workshop Rotation model, is a sense that the children are in Sunday school classrooms rather than preschool classrooms. There is not much you can do about the furniture that is not the appropriate size. But you can create "environments" with murals that provide of sense of "you are there." The issue is how to make it easy to set up and put away. You can paint a mural on a giant window shade that is suspended from the ceiling, on a king-sized sheet that is hung from a track on the ceiling, or on a foldable screen that is simply stored during the week.

Also, look at the space in your church. Do you have a stage? Gym? Kitchen? Conference Room? Are there unused spaces that could become "workshops"?

My church is not a large church. Why would I still purchase the entire set of 100 lessons?

If you are going to run six or seven workshops over ten months, the volume discount kicks in at that point. Even if you are not running that many, there are so many ways to use the extra lessons that you may still find it worthwhile to purchase the full set. Some examples: the two storytelling workshops (Bedouin Encampment and Mary and Martha's B&B) are great for Children's Sermons. Midweek Programs can pick up the lessons not taught on Sunday. Vacation Bible School can focus on a workshop that was not included throughout the year. Summer Sunday school can use both workshops and units that were not used. Multigenerational and Family Fun Nights lend themselves to this model. A Missions focus can be enhanced with a connection to a Bible Story (Feeding of the 5000 or The Good Samaritan). A Ministry Faire can use the Early Church: Body of Christ lessons to invite the many talents in the church to become involved in the many ministries of the church. If you have the workshops, you will find ways to use them!

Is this curriculum written for a particular denomination in mind?

Cornerstones curriculum is written with the purpose of telling the story, making connections to life application, developing a personal relationship with God and Jesus Christ and becoming involved in the outreach focus of the church. It is the role of the DCE of each individual church to place the overlay of their particular church's history and denominational perspective. In relation to the sacraments, where the biggest denominational differences occur, the lessons clearly tell the teachers to have a discussion with the pastor before proceeding.