Rotation Ideas

[TammyA]

Hello
This is my first time using Gospel Light, for the past 5 years I have used groups. I do like groups format with the roatation. I received my kit and I am completly overwhelmed on how this works. I need ideas to set a rotation schedule that will work using this program or some kind of format that will make this flow. I don't get the bible story part it seems kind of boring with a teacher reading the story. I just need ideas or a direction to start planning. I have read the directors manual and watch the CD just not getting it. Does anybody during opening celebration do the skit and have kids sing songs rather than having it as a station? then do you separate the kids to different stations like craft, games, food.....

help
Tammy :confused::confused:

[jruckman]

Tammy,
Take a deep breath. Assemble whomever you have who will help you with the leadership and decide what elements you want to include and will work well with your kids.

We celebrate VBS from 9am-Noon, Monday through Friday in July. Every year we tweak the program a little to better suit our needs. We start VBS each day with all of the kids in the opening session together. As kids arrived last year, we incorporated the "stunts" which were (I think) new last year. Some of those involve messy stuff and the Trustees would have hissies if we sprayed shaving cream in the sanctuary, so we modify the activities as necessary. We have historically shown the skits on the DVD, but his year we are going to do them live, and the leader generally follows the script in the skits and assemblies book. After opening assembly (15 minutes), the 3-5 year olds go to a self-contained format in a 3-room hall of the church, and the 1st-6th graders rotate between centers (music, recreation, snack, crafts, and Bible story/lesson/games), 25 minutes per session, 5 minutes transition time between. This year we are expanding due to overwhelming class sizes in recent years and splitting classes into smaller groups and adding a Bible games section (The Arcade) separate from the story/lesson time.

The 1st-6th graders reassemble for a 10-minute wrap-up at the end of the morning, where we review the day's story, lesson, memory verse, and sing a song or two. They are dismissed from there. The 3-5 year olds are picked up by their adults from the self-contained center.

Does that help?
Janet

[jruckman]

Oops! That doesn't sound right! We celebrate VBS from 9am-noon, Monday through Friday ****the first week**** of July! (It sounded like we do it all month!)
Janet

[TrinityJen]

Tammy,

I don't know much about Groups VBS, but what were your fav things about it and how can you incorporate that into your SonWorld VBS. What I like about GL is that you have allot of flexibility. FOr the Bible story some people have people come each day dressed as a person from the story. Or some people use the Bible Story skits.

[Janis of California]

Hi Tammy,

Learning the new ins and outs of curriculum can be tricky. Check out pages 64-65 of the Director's Guide. There is a sample rotation schedule, you may need to modify it for your VBS but it may be a helpful starting place.

My church includes music in the opening with a Jr. High team leading the songs and we perform the skits live using adult actors (Youth Pastor and friends). The music team travels to the preschool classes and teaches them the songs in their classes. The elementary kids have Bible and Music together. Last summer we combined the 3rd-6th graders for Bible story in the sanctuary and used the Bible story scripts to tell the the stories differently. We did a couple of puppet shows, skits and used student volunteers. It was very fun! Then the kids went into another room with their small group leaders and went over the student guide review, application, and memory verse.
That worked well for us. Every year something tweaks and changes.
Hope this is helpful for you.

Good luck and God bless!

Janis

[TrinityJen]

Tammy, I wanted to add a bit about our schedule. We use a schedule similar to jruckman's, I think it is a GL sample. 9:00 - 12:00,

9:00-9:25 Opening, a little singing and the skit w/ a preview of the daily story/memory verse. The last 2 years we had older teens do the skit, previous years we showed the video.

Then we have 5- 25min classes we rotate to w/ 5 min in between. The classes we use are 1)Bible Story, 2)Games, 3)Music, 4)Snack, 5) Crafts. We do not do missions as a station (but that might change this year).

Our Bible story teachers use a combination of costumes, props and games during their time, they never have enough.

Our snack time is part eating and part 'Pocket Lady', they review the Bible Story/Memory verses, get stickers & small prizes there. Some churches use this time to eat and watch the daily skit.

We do not do a closing except on Friday, but that might change. 1 year we had 20min class & a closing but that rushed everything too much.

If you go back to the SonForce Kids board you can see how other churches adapt the schedule to their needs. http://forums.gospellight.com/showthread.php?p=6209&highlight=schedule#post6209

[TammyA]

Thank you so much for your help Janet

[TammyA]

thank you also Jen & Janis for your helpful input

[angie]

We have been using the rotation schedule since I started as director 9 years ago. Our VBS is only from 5:30-8:00pm M-F evenings (We have year round school so a group always has to be in bed early!). I start the gathering time the first half hour. Tables are set up for each group and they have some "assignment". This can include making nametags, projects from the theme center... Then we have 20 minutes for the opening -skit and songs- then we have four centers classes rotate to for 20 minutes each. We then have a quick 10 minute closing with announcements, recap of the story and idea, and a song. This seems to work very well for us. The center idea is awesome because I only need one committed person to do crafts -- and she loves crafts! My Bible story person uses a variety of ways to tell it -puppets, skits, hands on... Kids aren't bored this way staying in one room!