We are preparing our children to not only live in an unknown world but we are preparing our children to build that future world.

By the time today’s preschooler enters the workforce, 65 % of the jobs that will be available don’t even exist today. –

Cathy N. Davidson, professor at Duke University

So how do you prepare your students for an unknown future world?

The 4 C’s are considered essential to a child’s future success. The 4c’s are communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. These four skills are considered “super skills” of the future and are essential 21st-century skills.

Read more about the 4C’s here and the research here.

For today’s challenge, we are giving an example of how you can use all 4c’s along with your learning theme.

Create a Garden Mural

Create a collaborative mural that represents your students’ knowledge about plants.

Collaborating and working together will help children build a foundation in working as a team. Each child has an opportunity to showcase their specific talents. You may have some children that want to help build or prep while other students help create and make. There are many different ways you could approach this project.

But what is most important is to let the students direct the mural.

Eek!  I know as a teacher this can be frightening to let go and let the children make the decisions. But consider this mural a visual representation of what your students have learned.

Consider yourself as a facilitator or guide. Prompt your students’  thinking with open-ended questions but let your students create and make the decisions about the mural.  Below is how we chose to build our mural but adapt the idea to what works best for your classroom.

Materials:

• Large banner paper
• Painters Tape
• Washable Paint
• Dirt
• Glue
• Brushes
• Recycled painted papers or construction paper
• Yarn

Prep:  Tape the banner paper to the wall. I like to make a visual frame around the paper with painters tape. This gives the students a visual boundary that the paint must stay within the tape.

Step 1: Collaborate

Discuss what type of garden your students would like to create.  Refer back to the book From Seed to Plants or research different types of gardens. Brainstorm ideas and come up with a plan for your garden mural.

Step 2: Create & Critical Thinking

How can you bring your ideas to life? Let students experiment with how to create what they need for their garden mural. As the teacher prompt their thinking with open-ended questions. Let the child lead the creating and problem-solving process.

We created mud paint (mixing dirt, water, and glue) to represent the soil. We used recycled paper to create flowers along with flowers that were painted while observing our plant discovery center.

Remember, let your students direct the mural. You may help guide but try to remain hands-off! 

Step 3: Communication. Show off your students’ hard work by inviting another class or parents to see your final work of art. Let your students communicate what they have learned.

Use this mural as documentation of all the learning that has gone on in your classroom. Visual works of art make learning visible. It is how your students can communicate what they have learned with others.

Observe what questions your students are asking. Perhaps you add bugs to your mural and that launches into a new theme.  Or maybe you add clouds and then do a cloud study. Take what you observe from your students learning and use that to plan your next STEAM theme.