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Updated 2022

This topic has six subjects:

1. Frequently Asked Questions about what is and how to create and organize a Scope and Sequence

2. How to Create Your Own Scope and Sequence of Bible stories to teach.

3. Rotation's founder's Original Five Year Scope and Sequence

4. An article about why "Lectionary" based curriculum is not a great idea.

5. Neil's Revised 5-Year Scope and Sequence

6. What Every Kid Should Know About the Bible (excerpt)

The "How-to" and original scope and sequence first appeared on Rotation.org in its early days and has been updated and improved many times by its author, Neil MacQueen. It is intended as a guide, not a prescription. The author is one of the founders of the Rotation Model, this site, and is currently the Lead Writer for the Rotation.org Writing Team. He is a Presbyterian minister specializing in Christian Education.

You can also find 5 and 6 year plans posted by other Rotation churches here.  Many of them are quite similar to Neil's Suggested Five Year Plan, and there's a reason for that! There is a general consensus among most Christian educators and pastors about the top 30 or so major Bible stories kids should know. Stories from Genesis, Exodus, and the Gospels, for example. After that, you'll see some interesting variations in the plans.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Scope and Sequence

What is a Sunday School Scope and Sequence?

A "Scope and Sequence" is the list (scope) of Bible stories your Sunday School will teach over a period of years, and in what order (sequence) you will teach them in (including in what month and year).

Most Rotation Sunday Schools have a 5 or 6 year schedule. Some shorter, some longer.

Most Rotation Sunday Schools teach between 10 and 12 stories a year for 4 to 5 weeks at a time.

Who Decides What Stories to Teach in the Rotation Model?

You and your church do. It's not hard, and it creates ownership and excitement.

For details and a rationale, read the article below about Creating a Scope and Sequence of Bible Stories for Rotation.

How many stories do I need?

How many weeks do I spend on each story?
How many years should I plan before repeating Year One stories?

Most Rotation educators believe four to five weeks per story is about right. There are certain stories, like Exodus, or the Cross where you can do special 6-week rotations if you have the need.  (Some stories can be taught twice over several years too.)

40 Sundays per year divided by 4 weeks per story rotation = 10 stories per year you will teach. If you teach through the summer months, add 3 more stories for a total of 13 stories per year. Some summer rotations only last 3 weeks. Depends on your story and schedule.

We say "40" weeks because most churches need to leave certain Sundays for other things, like special programs, or taking the summer off.

If you have identified 40 or 50 key stories/lessons to teach your kids in Rotation, that means you'll need about FOUR YEARS to get through them at 10 to 11 stories a year,  or FIVE YEARS if you only do 8 stories a year.

Some KEY Bible stories get REPEATED each year. Holy Week, for example, gets taught every year in Rotation, but one year focuses on Last Supper, and the next on the Crucifixion, etc.  Read Neil's article below for how to plan for these great reoccurring stories.

Your Scope and Sequence will guide your planning and resourcing, and everybody's plan eventually changes! ...which is one of the things Rotation people like about Rotation. It's flexible!

Which stories should we emphasize?

There are different theories about which stories to emphasize. Everyone agrees that stories about Jesus are the most important and that Advent and Holy Week stories should be covered every year. And everyone agrees that we should have more New than Old Testament stories.

Once you agree with those two sentiments, it's pretty easy to decide what are the "major" stories within the OT and NT that every child should hear and learn within a certain period of years.

The important thing is to keep it flexible, and not be driven by pet-theories, such as, "which Gospel is better for kids," or "we must teach XYZ stories to kids because that's how I was raised." This is a new day.

Personally, I think it's what we emphasize WITHIN EACH STORY that's more important. The more I've taught and worked with kids and youth, the greater the importance I've placed on emphasizing the transformational instead of the informational. I want my kids to encounter the living presence BEHIND and within each story. In that sense, I've moved from "Bible Literacy" to "evangelism" as the primary goal of my teaching.

How many years should I plan ahead to get started?


Having a rather FIRM idea of at least the next two years ahead lets you begin to resource great lesson plans as you find them here at rotation.org.

But it's still a good idea to sketch out years three, four and five too. This will give you a sense of priorities, what resources are needed sooner rather than later, and help you see which stories might be good to teach in which years.  For example, if you know you're teaching Last Supper in Year One, it makes sense to follow that story in Year Two with the Cross, and Year Three with Resurrection.

It is highly recommended to put FAMILIAR major stories in your first year that are easy to resource and be creative with. The Good Samaritan, for example, is easier for your teachers and planners to find resources for in your first year than a Rotation on Jeremiah.

How many workshops do I need?

How many different grades should I include?

These two questions and their answers are related!

Regardless of how many grade groups you create, each group will need a minimum of four workshop weeks to really learn the lesson.

Smaller churches may only have two broadly graded groups using Rotation. They will still need to do four weeks per story, and do four different workshops. That means that on any given week, two of your four workshops are not being used, and that's ok!

While it's normal to have unique rooms for each workshop, in many smaller churches, one room may pull double-duty.  It may be the Game workshop the first two weeks of the rotation, and the Drama workshop the last two weeks. Depends on your space.

Here's a pretty typical Workshop Rotation Schedule for a small to medium size Sunday School. See other scheduling examples here.

3Groups4weeks4works

Larger churches have some interesting options to consider.

  • If they have five grade groups, and thus need five workshops open every Sunday, then five week rotations make a lot of sense!
  • But you don't have to do five weeks on every story.
  • You can have five grade groups, do a four week rotation.  It just means that each grade group will miss one of the workshops on that story.

It's quite a bit LESS COMMON for churches with six grades/classes rotating to do six week rotations. They will have to have six different workshops each week, but after four weeks they can change the story. The kids get to use all the workshops, just not all six for each story.  Six weeks on many stories is just too many.

Other options:

Some churches only rotate their younger classes.

Some rotate all the way up through their 7th and 8th grades, and add an extra workshop just for the older kids, such as a computer lab, or service/mission workshop,  "discussion tank."

The Rotation Model gives you the permission to fit the needs of your story, class sizes, number of classes, and creative inspirations.

Just keep in mind that you don't want to get hung up in the weeds, or OVER THINK your selections, or argue between two stories and fail to creatively and transformationally teach both!

The thing you want to be STEADFAST about is this:

It takes a minimum of four weeks for your regular attenders to really learn the story, and about four weeks per story to keep the rate of story change low enough so as not to burn out your teachers and resources (or you).



Flexibility does not mean "anything goes."  In the article below, I provide a RATIONALE for choosing and ordering your Bible Stories.

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Creating a Scope and Sequence

(a.k.a. "5 or 6 Year Curriculum Plan")
for the Workshop Rotation Model Sunday School


plus..."A Suggested 5 Year Scope and Sequence of Lessons"

by Neil MacQueen

The original version of this article was part of Neil’s Rotation “how to” articles for which this website was created to give away. This article has since been updated below to include many good suggestions from the Rotation.org community.  

UPDATE:  

This post now contains an updated version of my church's 5 year Rotation plan. The old one was from a former church. They are very similar and demonstrate the fact that plans and people do evolve!  You can see more 5 and 6 year plans here at our site.

Purpose of This Article

The purpose of this article is to discuss HOW a church might arrive at a LIST of Bible stories that are to be taught in Rotation-style Sunday School (aka "Scope"), and how you might ORDER those stories over a period of years (aka "Sequence").  

This isn't rocket science, but those of us in the Rotation Model have learned a few things over the years that you may find enlightening and helpful.

In the traditional model, we let the publishers pick our stories for us. But it’s not hard to do on your own and can build OWNERSHIP.

Since writing this original article, I’ve seen many other good S&S’s, and modified the scope and sequence suggested here. That’s the nature of the thing!  …which makes this first part of this article all the more important: getting the “how and why” right. I've also REPLACED my original list of stories TWICE in this article as I've moved to different churches. The lists look very similar.

Creating our own list has also encouraged us to challenge cherished assumptions. This article will describe them.

"ROTATION MATH"

In a traditional Sunday School you teach 52 different stories a year for five or six years (1st -6th gr). That's about 250 different stories possible, though many stories repeat, such as, Easter.

The Workshop Rotation Model's pace of 10 to 12 Bible stories a year for five years. Subtract from this number certain reoccurring seasonal stories, such as Christmas and Easter, and the scope of your Bible teaching is down to around 40 different Bible stories over 5 years.

This pace allows you to try many different creative approaches to major stories. It emphasizes REMEMBERING. And eases your preparation burden.

It isn't the purpose of this article to debate the wisdom of teaching 40 stories in Rotation versus the 250 stories in the traditional model. Rotation people obviously think it's a good idea. But this one thing is true: any pace which doesn't produce ownership, excitement for the word, and an acceptable level of Bible literacy is the wrong pace.

I've also evolved to understand that its what we emphasize IN stories that more important than arguing between two good story selections. The best list in the world fails if it is only taught as "information" and does not help our kids encounter the living spirit of Christ.




Assumptions Guiding the Selection of Stories:

1. The Primary Goal of Sunday School is... to teach Bible stories to children in a way that grows their knowledge of God’s Word, faith in his Son, and attendance in his Church.

What's your definition or goal for Sunday School? And how is it different from fellowship groups, worship and other children's programming? Your Scope and Sequence shouldn't just be a catalog of Bible stories. It should help you achieve your goals, not just fill in blocks on a calendar. (Having said this, let's also remember that Sunday School alone can't do all we want to do for our kids. After coming up with your scope and sequence, you should also have a discussion about how to transform your children's ministry to accomplish ALL your goals.)

2. Faith needs scripture memory to help it grow.

This is one of the reasons for creating four or five week lesson sets. It's also one of the reasons I will repeat certain "more essential" stories in my S & S. There is no comprehension and meaning without remembering what you learned. Scripture must be understood and remembered, not merely 'covered' by the teacher or heard. You cannot appreciate the story of the cross if you do not remember it.

3. Bible Literacy is a Good Thing

To some of you this might seem obvious. But we live in a post-modern world where many, including some leaders in the church, believe the Bible to be less important to faith than ever before. They want Sunday School to be 'fun,' even if it means the kids can't remember much of what they're taught. These people are not serious educators. They do not understand the next assumption:

Corollary: Literacy takes time. It's true for math, reading, and language literacy. Even software literacy! Repetition is crucial to most forms of learning, including learning a story, and spiritual formation.

Corollary: Repetition doesn't mean repetitive drilling. Learning is tremendously enhanced when done through various media and experiences. Content should be repeated, but methods should be varied. Sunday Schools that emphasize what you know over what you believe will produce full heads and empty hearts.

4. We teach to instill a long-term memory.

This would seem to be an obvious rule, and somewhat a repeat of #3. But I'm always surprised when Rotation churches do things like reduce their # of weeks to 2 or 3, try to cover too much in a lesson or rotation, or never get back to certain key stories. Long term memory is the product of repetition, focus, and memorable teaching.  Go back to assumption #1: our goal is to teach Bible stories. If you agree with that assumption, the kids don't remember what you taught them, did you meet that goal?

5. The Rule of Less is More and More is Less. **

The more stories we try to teach without adequately teaching any of them, the less we actually teach. Rotation Model is very realistic. It says there is a limit on how much we can do WELL. It says that REMEMBERING takes time and repetition. Rush and you fail.

Resist the temptation to create thematic Rotations that sweep lightly across many stories which each seem to speak to the theme. A story taught lightly, is most likely a story not taught at all. **This is a primary Rotation Model value. If you don't get this, you don't understand the Model.

I see this in some Rotation lessons about "the Lost" stories/parables, ...where writers will lump together lost coin, lost sheep, lost son. By lumping them all, none gets remembered or taught well.

6. The Canon within the Canon

#6 here is a big idea that simply says, you can't teach the whole Bible to kids, it's too big and complex. It's impossible for several reasons: 1) There isn't enough time to teach each story in a memorable way (and if they don't remember it, it isn't teaching), 2) Most of our kids don't attend regularly.

The term "canon" often refers to the list of approved books of the Bible. Because you can't teach them all, or all the stories, your five year list of stories will in effect become a "canon within the canon."

So be ready to make some tough choices.

Some Canon Rules to help you make the tough choices...

Not everything in the Bible is suitable for children. You probably have your own list (and if you don't you should). On my list of PG-13 scriptures are any in which the prophets or Kings slaughter with glee, images of terrible judgement, and any story that depicts God in an un-Christlike manner. (I'm not saying throw them out, just wait til they are older and can grapple a little more with such passages.)

Some stories or ideas are more important for children to learn than others. Example Application: Paul's life story is more important for KIDS to know than Amos' and Hosea's. Example Application: Knowing about the life and teachings of Jesus is more important for KIDS to know than the entire book of Genesis. (which isn't to say we're not going to teach Genesis).

It follows then that some stories -being more 'important' than others, belong in more 'important' timeslots. The highest attendance months are my most important timeslots. Example: We should teach Jesus when we have more kids around, and Noah in August (no cards or letter please).

Jesus' life story and his teachings are more important to teach children and youth than any other part of the Bible. This is not to say other parts aren't important. This 'law' merely establishes priority. We want our kids to understand who he was, what he did for us, what we expects from us and what we can expect from him.



7. The Law of Stories

Prefer to teach Bible stories over Bible verses. There has never been a better medium invented than STORY to indelibly convey the rich textures of truth. Corollary: The best and most memorable truths in the Bible are found in its stories and images. Even the Apostle Paul in Romans had to rely on the story memories of his followers to parse his rhetorical explanations of faith and Law (See Romans 3 and his many references to the stories of Adam and Abraham).

Rotation Application: If you have a Bible truth to teach, teach it using a Bible story. In most cases, it is better to teach a story than just a scripture verse. The story stands a MUCH better chance of be remembered, and conveying additional meaning.

8. I Believe Real Learning Can Be (and should be) Fun & Attractive!

Again, this might seem obvious to you, but many of our dear brethren and sister-en secretly (and some -openly) doubt it. They "just want the kids to have a good time and want to come back." What these teachers lack is the gift of creative, kid-friendly teaching, or the proper model to be able to pull it off week after week. Unfortunately, some of our teachers were bored as kids in Sunday School and now think all they have to do is make it fun. The problem is that "fun" isn't enough to keep them coming. Don't underestimate kids --help them find where the BREAD is and they'll come back for more.

9. The Law of K.I.S.S. (also known as Keep It Simple Stupid)

This is similar to "More is Less." The Law of K.I.S.S. says 'thou shalt not create overly complex lessons and curriculum." You can't reinforce the basics enough and you can't bring it down to their world too much. I've found that most teachers and printed curricula work over the kids' -and sometimes the teacher's heads. I often have to catch myself on this. Recently, I was teaching about Paul and we got on the subject of Paul and Jesus were willing to take risks for the Gospel. I'm thinking "stick up and speak up for the Gospel kids!" But for the 3rd grader sitting right in front of me, her struggle was to apply this lesson to her brother who liked to repeatedly hit her on the arm. I'm a father of three and have been teaching, and working in churches for over twenty years. I'm also a coach in two sports. If I've learned anything about training, writing & teaching a lesson plan, or raising kids in the way they should go it's K.I.S.S.

10. The Law of Assumptions (a.k.a. The Law of "Who Says So?")

Question everything. Every planning and teaching assumption deserves our scrutiny. For example, Should we be teaching Old Testament during our peak attendance times and put off Paul to our lowest attendance times? AND...Just because we've always taught Noah, does the story rate a high ranking in our scope given its questionable depiction of God's mass-murdering character? (Yes, I know, I'm a heretic.) Especially question those who say, "This is the way we're supposed to do it." If they were so right, Sunday School wouldn't be in the mess it's in.

  • What are YOUR beliefs, assumptions and laws governing curriculum ?
  • How does your Scope & Sequence inadvertently reflect priorities and ideas you may not agree with?

    A member of our site once shared an argument their development team was having over their perceived need to have "balance between the selection of stories from different Gospels"  --some felt that Mark wasn't represented enough. (This concern revealed their lack of understanding that Matthew and Luke are largely based on Mark.)  They also worried that going from one Rotation story that came from Luke into another story that came from John might "scramble the Gospels" in the heads of the kids.  These were "theories" and solutions (and worries) in search of a problem none of us has ever experienced. Kids transition easily.

    As described in another of our "How to Pick Stories" articles, first you pick the story that needs to be taught, then you decide which Gospel teaches it "best" for your kids, and go with that.

11. The Law of "Not Everything Has to Be Taught in Sunday School"

After the selection process, you WILL have a set of stories and passages that you'll want to teach in other place in your program. For example, WORSHIP and PRAYER passages are particular good for children's sermon series.  And single line verses, like "turn the other cheek" are good for both children's sermons and fellowship night lessons.  So when you're done making your 5 year plan, take all you left out and make another list with it!

WHO is the Scope for? -your regular attenders? -or the irregular attenders?

While it is true that irregular attenders will hopefully attend at least one lesson in each Rotation, the LIST or 'Scope' of our teaching should be for all practical purposes designed for our regular attenders. They stand the best chance of benefiting from our intentional planning.

Thus, we create a Scope with regular attenders in mind and one question:

What stories do we want our regular attenders to encounter over the next four to six years?

How many years in a Scope?

A consensus has emerged that a 5 or 6 year Scope and Sequence is best with a certain set of key stories repeated in the Sequence.  This fits nicely into the typical elementary Sunday School program. See my example on this page for one way to accomplish this.

Without question, SOME stories, such as Advent and Holy Week, get extra emphasis.

If your Sunday School workshops are for grades 1 through 6, you might create a six year Scope (with some stories repeating).  




Your Sunday School 'Scope' should be created with the rest of your church program in mind.

A well-designed Sunday School Scope and Sequence takes into account what's being taught in other venues and timeslots.  In one church, our Fellowship program did a musical about Joseph, so we didn't include him in our Sunday School scope and sequence. In another church, we decided that Baptism and Prayer are great subjects for a series of children's sermons.

Look at what your Fellowship Program is teaching. If you're teaching the story of Holy Week in years one, two, and three on Sunday Morning, then maybe your Fellowship program should teach about it in year four.  If you don't have time on Sunday morning to repeat certain key stories every few years, such as Prodigal Son, then make sure the Prodigal's story gets taught in fellowship, or in children's sermons.

Do NON-Bible stories belong in our Scope?

I think we should all have a Rotation on "What it means to be a Presbyterian" ...even you Lutherans ;-) But rather than putting it in Sunday School, our annual St. Andrew's Day celebration might be a better way to teach it, in addition to doing it during Confirmation. Don't try to thrown the kitchen sink into your Scope and Sequence. It may fit better elsewhere.

Should we have special Rotations on "How the Bible Came to Be?"

Yes....but on the other hand, this is a perfect subject for the fourth graders to study prior to the annual fourth grade Bible presentation. And... shouldn't such Bible Skills be taught with each Rotation? I digress here a moment: In our original plan for Rotation, Melissa and I created the Bible Skills and Games Workshop to carry some of this 'how-to,' geography and culture load. When it was renamed "The Temple Workshop," others who copied the workshop decor may have lost some of our original intent once the original name was lost. Bible Skills and Knowledge should be a specific emphasis which one or more workshop teachers might be very well suited to emphasize over a period of years.

Should we have a specific Rotation on "The Forgiveness of God?"
...or create rotations on theological concepts, like ""Covenant" ??

No, I don't think so, and here's why...

MANY stories are about forgiveness and covenant.   I can almost guarantee you that IF you pick 10 good Bible stories a year, you will touch on EVERY major theological concept about God and all about God's character every year. No need to 'isolate it' in a special Rotation.  And many stories are about "covenant."  Stick to the major Bible stories, and you WILL cover all the important concepts!

The other problem with selecting "theology" and "values" to teach is that you'll probably end up with a bunch of one-line scriptures, and STORIES are always much better to teach with (and stories teach MANY theological/value points).  In my experience, when you teach "subjects" the teacher usually ends up doing a lot of talking. Whereas, stories are usually much easier to creative teach.  YES, you will teach subjects!  ..but do them within the context of the Bible's story as much as possible.

In general

  • Teach theological topics, such as "God's Love," or a skill, such as "How to Pray," or a subject,  such as, "Mission Projects," through Bible stories. Stories are powerful memory producers. And recognize that most stories have several subjects in them. When you pick the story, identify the focal subject.
  • Teach "reoccurring subjects" such as Mission,  through non-rotation times (assembly times, children's sermons, and real service projects). Of course, the parable of the Good Samaritan is a good rotation story to teach service.
  • Teach "Skills," such as, Bible skills, Prayer skills, and Worship Skills while you're engaging in those activities.
  • Last but not least, seriously question whether or not some subjects belong in Sunday School, or are age appropriate. Sorry fellow Presbyterians, but I seriously doubt the need or efficacy of teaching Presbyterian History to 2nd graders.


Do we need different Scopes for K-2 and 3-6?

So people think we need two lists of stories: one for younger, one for older. I tend to think not. Most churches can't afford the luxury of running two separate lists of stories.  My other reason is this: the top 30 or so Bible stories are important for every age of student!  

Some publishers have gotten us to think we need different stories for different age groups. Or, they organize older kids stories by "values" and such. But as I read the top 30 or so Bible stories, I find they contain all the 'values' and 'life topics' we could every want to teach!

What IS true is that we should emphasize certain aspects of certain stories for certain age groups. Do I need to spell out what those should be? No. You have plenty of capable adults who can help you do this.  




Putting the Stories in the "Right" Order

The term "sequence" in "scope and sequence" refers to the order in which your stories will be taught. And surprisingly, there is a pretty big tradition about the proper sequence, due mostly to following the "church year."  This has led us to teach Old Testament in the Fall, and New Testament in the Winter-Spring as our natural sequence.

The theory was, "we talk about Jesus after he is born at Christmas."  And of course, in the program year, that means FALL is usually about Old Testament.  

TROUBLE IS... FALL is usually our PEAK ATTENDANCE.  

I believe THERE IS a priority pecking order of Bible stories, so I'd much rather be teaching about the Good Samaritan in October than about Noah.  Thus, my Scope and Sequence reflects this belief to a certain extent.

DOES TEACHING STORIES OUT OF SEQUENCE MATTER MUCH TO THE KIDS?  

Does it matter if you teach about Joseph then skip to Jesus and back to Abraham?  

On average I don't think so. We're not teaching reading or math skills that build on each other. I've been teaching Rotation two decades in 4 different churches, and "out of order" has never been an issue.  

Exceptions to the Observation: When teaching stories about Jesus in the same year.  I wouldn't teach about his Baptism prior to the Christmas story. And I wouldn't teach Last Supper after Easter.

It also matters when you're teaching big stories, like Exodus or Joseph. In those cases, I would order my rotations to walk through the story sequentially.

Here's a very creative twist --taking two or three months and moving through the ENTIRE Exodus story in rotation fashion. We did this in my church several years ago and it was wonderful. We created a series of 3-week rotations and marched right through the Exodus story all the way to Sinai, including manna and the Ten Commandments. When we got to the Ten Commandments we did a five-week rotation. By teaching the story AS one story broken into parts, the kids were able to follow along wonderfully. It also allowed us to work our way through some fun movies, including Prince of Egypt and DeMille's Ten Commandments.

How to Go About Creating a Scope and Sequence

1) Form a "Scope & Sequence Team." Include the pastor, sharp teachers, some elders, and some older kids.

2) Have your Team read this article and discuss it.

3) In small groups, brainstorm a list of 30 to 40 Bible stories they think every 6th grader should know.

4) Get back together and compare lists.

5) Compare your list to other scope and sequences found at this site.

6) Whittle your list down to 5 or 6 years, with 8 to 9 stories per year, including those you'll need to repeat (Easter, for example).

7) Begin organizing stories in certain years and times of the year.

8) Create a Draft Scope and Sequence document. Pray on it, and circulate it to other staff and leaders for suggestions and approval.

9)  Finally, after your list is approved, POST your Scope and Sequence in a prominent place in the Sunday School. Don't bury it in a filing cabinet. This will help teachers, students and parents. It may also bring you teachers who want to teach their "favorite story." At the beginning of each or semester, remind your pastor of the Scope. Encourage the occasional sermon or adult education class in-step with your Scope. Create a library shelf of resources to take home on the Rotation.

Planning and Gleaning Note for Design Team and Staff Person:

If you're the staff person in charge of the Scope and Sequence, keep a large copy of the Scope and Sequence posted in your office and/or develop a filing system with a place for each story and subject. We all come up with ideas out of sequence as we read, teach and wake up in the middle of the night. Accumulate these resources long before you need them instead of hoping you remember them when the time comes!

The Five Year Scope and Sequence for Neil's Church

My team and I developed this 5-year list last year. We started with a much larger list of about 60 stories, discussed and debated, then whittled it down and ordered it as follows.

Note: July-August isn't scheduled in our church due to attendance -but we expect to grow into those months. We also have a couple of "open" slots for new thoughts.

Year One

September:

Paul’s Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5)



October:

Parables of the Kingdom (seed, leaven, etc)



November:

Parable of the Good Stewards (Parable of Talents)



December:

Birth of Jesus –Isaiah and the Annunciation to Mary (3 weeks)



January:

Call of the Disciples



February:

Jesus and the man let down through the roof



March (Easter):

Trial and crucifixion (3 weeks)



April:

Walk to Emmaus



May:

Asleep in the boat during the storm



June:

Elijah:  Chariot of fire --  Elisha picks up Elijah’s mantle











Year Two

September:

Exodus: Burning bush, Let my people go



October:

Exodus: Wandering in the Wilderness: Manna and water



November:

Parable of the Good Samaritan



December:

Jesus' Birth and the Shepherds (3 weeks)



January:

Baptism and Temptation of Jesus



February:

Jesus Feeds the 5000



March (Easter):

Last Supper and Gethsemane (3 weeks)



April:

Parable of the Sower



May:

Jesus and Peter walk on water



June:

Psalm 23











Year Three

September:

Creation (Genesis l)



October:

The Ten Commandments



November:

Parable of the Prodigal Son



December:

The Wisemen/Magi



January:

Elijah the Prophet and the Still Small Voice



February:

Mary and Martha



March(Easter):

Jesus on the Cross



May:

Paul on the Road to Damascus



June:

Psalm 8











Year Four

September:

Stories of Abraham and Sarah



October:

Jacob and Esau



November:

The Beatitudes



December:

Special programming, tba



January:

Ruth, Naomi and Boaz



February:

Zaccheus



March(Easter):

Resurrection/Doubting Thomas



April:

Anointing of David



May:

David, Saul and Goliath



June:

Paul in jail in Philippi  (Acts 16)











Year Five

September:

Adam and Eve (Genesis 2)



October:

Joseph



November:

OPEN



December:

Christmas story/topic TBA



January:

Story of Esther



February:

Special programming



March(Easter):

Romans 8 ~ What can separate us from the love...?  

April:

Parables of the Lost Sheep, the Coin



May:

Paul -1 Corinthians 13



June:

Daniel and the Lion’s Den









       

Stories of note NOT included above which will be taught in our fellowship group and/or children’s sermons:

  • The Great Commandment is part of the beginning of the Good Samaritan. You could spend an extra week on that parable to work on memorizing the Gr. Com.
  • Lord’s Prayer --I cover the subject of prayer and the Lord's Prayer in ch. sermons.
  • John 1:  “In the beginning was the Word………”
  • Raising of Lazarus
  • Introduction to Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Promised Land. I've done this as a VBS since it involved "journey," and "tabernacle" we can create.
  • Jesus the boy in the temple
  • Armor of God (Ephesians 6)
  • Noah
  • Fiery Furnace. I sometimes include this with Daniel and Lion's Den rotation. Very similar story and meaning.
  • Ecclesiastes 3:  “For everything……”
  • Jesus asks Peter, “but who YOU say that I am?”
  • _________
  • _________



Saying it again:
Please keep in mind that it's HOW we teach each story that's just as important as which stories we pick (if not more). Don't obsess over story selection and then ignore digging into what the story is really about and the best way to connect it with your kids.

See 5 and 6 year plans posted by other Rotation churches here at Rotation.org.

Subjects & Stories I'll mainly reserve for Children's Sermons*:

Baptism, Communion, Prayer, Names for Jesus that reveal something important about him (Counselor, Prince of Peace, etc.)., Heaven, being a Church, The Body of Christ, Mission stories, "Hear I am send me!"

I will also introduce the kids to "People in the Bible I want you to meet."
Job, Shadrach/Meshach/Abednego, Miriam, Samuel, Jeremiah, King Saul, Peter.

I'll take two or three Sundays (or Wednesday evening devotion times) to tell a little story about each person. My point is not to say YOU have to do it this way too, but to show you how I find other places to cover important subjects.

And.... as you can tell by my Five Year Scope and Sequence, we'll be dealing with the subject matter of many of these stories (in addition to the topics found in some of the stories below that I don't want to teach, yet). Example: Prayer will be dealt with in the Lord's Prayer Rotation and Daniel, in addition to praying with the kids each week. Example: Mission will be dealt with in Pentecost (sharing Good News) and Man Let Down Through the Roof (bringing others to Jesus), among others.

The POINT is that I have a plan, and would encourage you to do the same. You don't want to leave out the story of Fiery Furnace or a great passage like 1 Cor 13 from your Sunday School, for example, and "forget" to teach it in your children's sermon or fellowship program




Subjects and Stories I'll especially want to do in my VBS program:

-Marketplace 29 A.D –style, “Life in Bible Times”, because I like the village idea
-The Tabernacle/Temple/Worship, because I'm going to do a big Tabernacle project
-Sermon on the Mount, because we can do this outside and it's a sprawling topic.




Stories I believe aren't suitable or necessarily "for kids"...

We all have certain stories we'd rather not teach IN SUNDAY SCHOOL. Here are mine. Please don't email me about this list. We all have our odd ideas & heresies. I'm willing to share mine with you so at least you know I didn't 'overlook' them when making up my Scope.

Cain and Abel: Does a 1st grader need to know about "the first murder?" No. But my 5th graders do, so I might teach a 'rotation' on Cain and Abel in their fellowship group.

Tower of Babel: What's the point here that can't be better dealt with by another story?

Noah: It's just a cute animal story once you sidestep God wiping out everybody. That's not the God I know in Jesus. As far as teaching the concept of 'Covenant' there are many other stories to do it with. (Yep, heresy!)

Samson: Do we really need to teach this story about a warrior who likes to sleep around?
Woman caught in Adultery, Woman at the Well, Job... The subject matter or story elements are not for young children.

Obadiah, Amos, Joel and Friends: Most of the minor prophets' stories are too heady for my kids.

End Times: Wait until they're older. You'll just scare them now. (of course, "Heaven" is a great topic).

Church History and Heroes of the Church: Better taught in Worship, Confirmation and/or in Children's Sermons. Five weeks on John Wesley or John Knox for younger kids is bizarre, and one week is useless.

Some Jesus stories, including: Cana, Rejection, Demoniac, Fig Trees, Woman at the Well, etc. etc.

OK....that's my list. What's important is that you have YOURS. We can't teach it all.




Copyright Neil MacQueen. This article is for sharing, not for publishing or profit-making. You are welcome to copy it entirely or in parts for your training purposes.

Neil MacQueen is a Presbyterian minister and one of the original authors of the Workshop Rotation Model. You can find other articles by Neil here at www.rotation.org

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What's Wrong with Following the Lectionary for Sunday School?

a feisty article by Neil MacQueen

This original version of this article was written for Scroll, a CE magazine, and was posted at our old rotation site. It has been updated here. A lectionary is a list of Bible passages assigned to be used on certains days and Sundays, usually in a three year cycle. The idea is to "read through the Bible". Over a dozen mainline denominations follow the Common Lectionary for determining which scriptures to use in Worship. Many Sunday School curriculums follow that lectionary, and some create their own list or "story of the week". The Workshop Rotation Model does follow a "lectionary" of sorts. We call it a "Scope and Sequence".  But as you will read, our concept of what to read and how often to change the story, is quite different than the traditional model of Sunday School. 

The impossibility of following THE Lectionary for teaching our kids is plain to see when you look at a typical lectionary schedule of stories from a traditional lectionary-based curriculum:

Year One:
This week:  Deuteronomy: The Ten Commandments.

Next week:  Romans: Paul's understanding of the Law.

Week after that:  Matthew: Jesus' story of the Workers in the Vineyard.

The rate of change ALONE creates problems, let alone the jumping around. And then there's the issue of finding yourself teaching stories from the less kid-friendly parts of the canon.

Question 1:

WHY should a third grader be reading in Deuteronomy like their parents, when they don't yet know the story of the Exodus or the Cross?   

Question 2:  

HOW can a third grader learn enough about the Commandments in 45 minutes to make them meaningful and memorable? This is how Bible illiteracy happens!

Question 3:

WHAT have we done to that poor teacher by making them come up with a brand new creative lesson plan for a different story every week, ...and being asked to teach "the Commandments" in 45 minutes or less to a group of kids who have never heard of them before?  ...and good luck coming up with a creative lesson on the story of the Workers in the Vineyard, or Man with the Withered Hand, or David and the Priests at Nob, or....

Question 4:  

What business does that third grader have in Romans if they don't remember the lesson from the week before, and don't yet know the basic story of Jesus?  And how developmentally appropriate is it to be teaching important concepts to a 3rd grader using Paul's rhetorical arguments instead of a more simpler story?

Question 5:  

Is the story of the Workers in the Vineyard one of the most important Gospel stories we can teach that third grader (on par with the Prodigal Son or Good Samaritan, or Stilling the Storm), or is it a "second or third tier story" for when they're older? 

 

Update:
Even the newer lectionary-based curriculums for kids continue this insanity.

Here's a three week sequence of lessons from a new curriculum published by my denomination:

Week Two: The third graders are in James, "exploring what it means to live in Christian community."  

Week Three: The third graders are in Mark reading about Peter's declaration of Jesus as Messiah.

Even if these were really creative lessons, they move too fast, and our kids end up not knowing the major stories. I like the Letter of James, but it is more important than the Gospel of Matthew for our kids?  No. And we only have so many classes with them. If you were in third grade and missed Week 2, you never get the lesson about the importance of living in a Christian community.

Nice graphics and website, though.  

 

Basic Educational Rule:

If it's important to teach once, then you have to teach it several times in order for it to stick. And since we can't enforce attendance or attention, we need to prioritize which stories we want to MAKE SURE our typical attenders get repeated.

 

The CYNIC in me notes that changing the story every week, and trying to plow through vast quantities of scripture in 3 year cycles,  --which is what following the Common Lectionary does, is a great model if you're selling paper, or if you're a denominational writer, or if you're preaching, or if you're a seminary professor who sits on the Lectionary committee. It makes no sense for kids and teachers and the reality of Sunday School today.

None. Zip.

Using lectionary-based curriculum is advertised by publishers as a way for "parents and kids to be able to talk about the same story at home."  Nice idea but....
Dad: "So kids, what did you think of the Deuteronomist's version of the Commandments?
Kid: "Deuter-what?"

To them I simply say: When did our children become adults?

What business does a child have learning from Judges and Thessalonians when they don't yet know Genesis or the Gospels?  And again, we only have SO MANY SUNDAYS. And it takes repeated lessons to create long-term memory. Why are we switching the stories so fast?

We have 50 years of Sunday School lectionary-style curriculum and also 50 years of bored kids, boring lessons, and a Bible illiterate generation. Coincidence?   Perhaps it has not only NOT worked for the kids, but not worked for the adults as well.   

And yet they keep re-packaging this idea... 

The publishers want us to believe that if we only purchased a BETTER lectionary-based curriculum, or a better list of stories, we'd solve this problem. (If you agree, order today.)

But there is another solution that's educationally and theologically sound:

~ SLOW DOWN & Repeat Key Content ~ 

Repetition is the cornerstone of ALL learning, and it takes time. Let's take our time with kids learning the MAJOR stories of the Bible in-depth.  This is true whether you're learning how to shoot a free-throw, or understand a story.  

If they don't know the Parable of the Prodigal Son or Story of the Cross, what business do we have taking valuable time in Romans, or Judges, or some of the minor sayings in the Gospels?

The lectionary does repeat, but teaching a key story one week every three years isn't a great idea either. Try that with playing golf, and teaching your baby how to walk.  The basic brain science says: TEACH and REPEAT, ...and REPEAT.

Repetition is the key to volunteer teaching too. We all know how to teach something better after we've taught it for the first time. The Rotation Model takes advantage of these truths by spending four to five weeks PER MAJOR STORY.




If you're looking for a model of Sunday School that...

 

  • slows down the rate of story change for the kids
  • focuses on the Major Bible stories
  • let's teachers teach creatively without having to come up with something new every week
  • and doesn't require the purchase of expensive lectionary-based curriculum

 

...then look into the Workshop Rotation Model at www.rotation.org


 

Question 6:

Why are we still using the current lectionary in worship with Biblically illiterate adults? 

Some re-thinking needs to be done there too.   

Lectionaries are tools. But too often they are designed to be shovels. 

And we know from decades of experience that shoveling scripture at kids and adults doesn't work.

 

 shovel 

It only makes the hole deeper.


 

Neil is a Presbyterian minister, rabble rouser, and contributor to rotation.org.
This original version of this article was written for a CE magazine and was posted at our old rotation site. It has been updated here.

Last edited by Neil MacQueen

Revised Five Year Scope and Sequence

In 2014, I took on an interim position at a church in Bradenton Fl, during which time we converted classes to Rotation style and developed the following 5 year Rotation Schedule. It was largely based on my original scope and sequence seen above in this topic at Rotation.org

To arrive at it, our team started with a much larger list of about 60 stories, discussed and debated, whittled it down, and ordered it as follows.  You can read an article about "how to" create a list here.

Notes: July-August isn't scheduled in our church due to attendance. We also have a couple of "open" slots for new thoughts and future plans. Some of the order was determined based on stories the program had covered in recent pre-rotation years.

Year One

September:

Paul’s Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5)



October:

Parables of the Kingdom (seed, leaven, etc)



November:

Parable of the Good Stewards (parable of the talents)



December:

Birth of Jesus –Isaiah and the Annunciation to Mary (3 weeks)



January:

Call of the Disciples



February:

Jesus and the man let down through the roof



March (Easter):

Trial and crucifixion (3 weeks)



April:

Walk to Emmaus



May:

Asleep in the boat during the storm



June:

Elijah:  Chariot of fire --  Elisha picks up Elijah’s mantle











Year Two

September:

Exodus: Burning bush, Let my people go



October:

Exodus: Wandering in the Wilderness: Manna and water



November:

Parable of the Good Samaritan



December:

Jesus' Birth and the Shepherds (3 weeks)



January:

Baptism and Temptation of Jesus



February:

Jesus Feeds the 5000



March (Easter):

Last Supper and Gethsemane (3 weeks)



April:

Parable of the Sower



May:

Jesus and Peter walk on water



June:

Psalm 23











Year Three

September:

Creation (Genesis l)



October:

The Ten Commandments



November:

Parable of the Prodigal Son



December:

The Wisemen/Magi



January:

Elijah the Prophet and the Still Small Voice



February:

Mary and Martha



March(Easter):

Jesus on the Cross



May:

Paul on the Road to Damascus



June:

Psalm 8











Year Four

September:

Stories of Abraham and Sarah



October:

Jacob and Esau



November:

The Beatitudes



December:

Special programming, tba



January:

Ruth, Naomi and Boaz



February:

Zaccheus



March(Easter):

Resurrection/Doubting Thomas



April:

Anointing of David



May:

David, Saul and Goliath



June:

Paul in jail in Philippi  (Acts 16)











Year Five

September:

Adam and Eve (Genesis 2)



October:

Joseph



November: 

OPEN



December:

Christmas story/topic TBA



January:

Story of Esther



February:

Special programming



March(Easter):

OPEN



April:

Parables of the Lost Sheep, the Coin



May:

Paul the Letter Writer



June:

Daniel and the Lion’s Den









         

Year 6:  Jubilee Year?
This is a concept of doing things QUITE different in the 6th year of Rotation to refresh creativity, rooms, and help folks enjoy a break from structure, as well as, be thankful for it when it returned!

Last edited by Amy Crane

Excerpts from my list of "What Every Child Should Know About the Bible"

I'm often asked "where is that list? by longtime members of Rotation.orrg who remember seeing it once upon a time. This list first appeared on my software website but has been updated and expanded here at Rotation.org with more ideas about how to "evaluate" our kids' knowledge and teaching efficacy. That article also has more notes on "what every child should know about the Bible."

Here's the excerpt:

"Core Bible Knowledge Every Kid Should Know"

Here is "Neil's List of Core Bible Knowledge Every Kid Should Know." What's yours? The point is to have one, and test for it. This list was originally known as my "Stuff I think every Sunday School kid should know."

By the third grade all regular attenders (twice a month or more) should be able to:

  1. Say in front of a trusted friend, parent, or teacher what they believe about Jesus and why he's important to follow and learn from.
  2. Tell in a simple but understandable fashion the basic story of Jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection.
  3. Tell in simple but understandable fashion the basic stories of Creation and the Exodus.
  4. Be able to define in simple terms these words: Grace, Sin, Forgiveness, Holy, Prayer, Worship, Confession, Stewardship.
  5. Tell in simple but understandable fashion the parables of The Prodigal Son and The Good Samaritan.
  6. Tell in simple but understandable fashion at least one other New Testament story of their choice, and one from the Old Testament of their choice.
  7. Be able to recite the Lord's Prayer and find Psalm 23, remembering its first line or two.
  8. Be able to name the first two books of the Old Testament (OT) and find them quickly, and additionally name three other OT books.
  9. Be able to name the first four books of the New Testament (NT) and find them, and additionally name at least one other NT book.
  10. Be able to sing at least one verse of a Bible song or verse of a hymn/worship song of their choice.

There are other things I'd like my third-graders to do, including help in worship, serving, pray, ...but this article is trying not to turn into a book.

By the sixth grade your regular attenders should:

  1. Know everything on the third-grade list but with a more sophisticated understanding.
  2. Be able to sequence the Exodus story and know most of the Ten Commandments.
  3. Know what a prophet is and what a prophet does. And be able to tell you the names of two prophets and at least one story about a prophet.
  4. Know the basic stories of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Saul & David.
  5. Know at least two Jesus miracle stories and what those stories mean. I prefer they know the story of the man let down through the roof and the feeding of the 5000.
  6. Know at least two additional stories from the life of Jesus, preferably the Wise Steward and Jesus' teaching on forgiveness.
  7. Know at least two Beatitudes and know where to find them.
  8. Know who Paul was and what he did to spread the Christian message.
  9. Relate at least one story from the life of Paul, preferably his conversion on the Road to Damascus.
  10. Know the names of three of Paul's letters and be able to find them relatively quickly.
  11. Be able to correctly locate and paraphrase, if not have memorized, the 23rd Psalm.
  12. Be able to point to and describe an experience in their lives that has all the hallmarks of being a "spiritual" one.

See the full article with related content

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