Feature: Getting a Jump on the Summer Slump
Mary Manz Simon
by Mary Manz Simon, Signal Hill Lutheran Church, Belleville, Illinois
Are you tempted to close Sunday school for the summer? We were.
Students wouldn't be shuffled between nonvacationing teachers.
Money wasted on materials for vacationing students would be saved.
The makeshift program wouldn't limp along with fill-in films.
But our board of Christian education felt lessons scheduled for June were as important as those in January. We wanted to maintain the momentum of gradually increasing enrollment. Evangelism prospects and our own members needed Christian education year-round.
Early in 1980, the board began talking about the alternative—learning centers—a collection of stations around a room at which students work semi-independently, following simple written directions. Benefits included:
• Materials could be organized and prepared in advance, long before teachers vacationed.
• Centers could accommodate large fluctuations of attendance by both students and staff.
• Parish members and parents not usually involved in Sunday school could help prepare materials.
• Staff members could enjoy guilt-free vacations, as supervision would be provided by teachers (and volunteers) on a rotating basis.
By June, we were ready to go with "All about Paul," a multi-age learning center curriculum from National Teacher Education Project (7214 E. Granada Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85257). When the first students arrived, they picked up individual folders (free from a local insurance office) with the worksheet for the day and two pencils inside.
The worksheet listed the half dozen centers available that morning and gave instructions on what to do next. Students then moved to a control board, peeled off their masking-tape name slips, stuck them under the center ...
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