I'm roasting enormous beets, and by the time I've unwrapped them from their foil pouches, my hands, the counter, and even the kitchen floor is covered with beet juice.
I don't clean it up right away. Something about this particular stain enchants; it's so deeply red--almost purple-black--except when smeared to the lightest pink. I carefully pour the juice from the pouches into a cup.
It occurs to me that it's either a mess or. . . or. . . it's art.
We're going to paint with this beet juice.
There we sit, painting on canvas landscapes made from beet juice.
We turn the stain to paint, and I know I've tapped into some real, true thing. That's how it is with art. We take the deep stain in our own hearts, and we pour it out on a landscape. We make beauty of it for the world to see.
This is either a mess, or it's art. Today we chose the art.
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I combined my beets with vinegar and sugar to make a delicious beet salad. What's your favorite thing to do with beets?
Your creative art reminds me of this playful book "The Ink Garden of Theophane"
ReplyDeleteMy talented teacher friend (and colleague)
ReplyDeletedevised a clever plan to recognize student writing. Six different
vegetable awards are given to our fourth grade authors every other week. A beet
(along with a certificate) is given to the student who has "beet" his
or her best. This is an important award because -- it allows us to admire
a person's personal growth -- without comparing it to state standards or the
work of peers. I often wish my final grades could be based on the same
criteria.
Do my fourth grader appreciate such an award?
Who wants to go home and show his parents he won a vegetable? My
students bought into the vegetable awards like I've bought into breathing!
Pride beams from their faces when their names are announced on recognition
Friday. Parents, too, have learned
to embrace our unique awards; even the mother of a child whose garlic trophy lived
in his backpack over a month before the stench brought it to her
attention!
Apparently, cutting and pasting from Word goofs up the line formatting. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteI'm dying to know what the other vegetable awards are! Can you tell us? This is adorable!
ReplyDeleteThe onion award is given to the author who "layers" his writing by using appropriate writing tools. He successfully elaborates on his main idea or story plot.
ReplyDeleteBecause carrots help you see better, the carrot award is given to the piece that is most visually pleasing. We look for proper conventions and neat printing.
A bulb of garlic is awarded to a student who has excellent sentence fluency. A bulb consists of large and small cloves, similarly to the way sentences should vary in length.
Radishes are spicy. Students with "spicy" word choice win this award.
A potato goes to the student with the best "eye"deas.