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Author Archives: Marcia Beckett

About Marcia Beckett

Marcia is an elementary art teacher and loves painting, drawing, sculpture, art journaling and clay. Her blog, Art is Basic, features many exciting art projects for kids.

Primary Self-Portraits and Machinery Drawings

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A pencil sketch of gears

I started out the year with the Primary students (1st grade) drawing small, quick self portraits. One kid drew himself as a pirate! lol. The 4/5s (4th/5th graders mixed) looked at gears and drew them from observation.  I also had pictures of gears and machinery for them to look at.  I showed them basic steps to add shading and value.  After they had drawn 3+ gears, I told them that we would be turning them into inventions.  We had things … Read more… →

I updated my school website!

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A baby with a Cheerio on its forehead, sitting in a high chair, wearing a pink top, and gazing upward.

I have a special art website just for the parents at my school.  It is more specific and organized by grade level.  We don’t have traditional grade arrangements at our school.  Here is how our grades are set up: Nest– KindergartenPrimary– 1st gradeUpper Primary– 2nd gradeIntermediate– 3rd grade3/4s– 3rd and 4th grade mixed4/5s– 4th and 5th grade mixed5/6s–5th and 6th grade mixed Generally kids will enter in a unit and progress through the units in order.  So, if they are … Read more… →

New School Year!

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A sign that reads "Creativity Test" with directions to invent and draw something to add to the school for the new school year.

Today was our first day of school.  Would you like to see a glimpse of my room?  Any of these pictures you can see larger by clicking on them. Paints Paintbrushes Free Draw Cart View of the classroom.  We have small rooms because we have small classes. This is the view from our window.  It is the back of our school.  The playground is to the right and there is a bike trail in the distance. Miscellaneous supplies Kiln room … Read more… →

Fun Blog

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I just discovered a fun blog from a kindergarten teacher who does lots of way cool art projects.  These kids are so lucky to have such a creative teacher!  I’m impressed with the felted balls she made with the kindergartners.  Why have I been intimidated by teaching felting to kids?    Plus she has such a cool name and it is her real name, lol. Meri Cherry’s Blog

New Collage Doodle

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A vibrant, colorful doodle featuring various flowers, stars, hearts, and the word "love" in cursive.

The full collage/doodle Detail Detail Detail– I almost like the details more, because they are cropped more tightly. 🙂      Speaking of doodles, this is a very fun book for kids.  I have this in my classroom and sometimes kids will take it out in their free time.  It is small, pocket-sized, but has a lot of pages.      I also enjoy this book, which is fun for scrapbookers.  It is more like a booklet, but it has a … Read more… →

Versatile Blogger Award

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Green and black text on a floral background reads, "The Versatile Blogger Award - Poems, Stories, Musings, Essays.

Rule #1: Thank the person who gave you your award.                 Thanks to Mini Matisse for giving me this AWARD.  Wooh!  I feel so special.  I didn’t know anyone had actually been reading seriously.  Her blog has lots of great art lesson plans too. Rule #2: Share 7 things about yourself                     1.  I have been married since 2006 to my wonderful husband Andrew, who is a radio news reporter.  We met in college in Illinois.                    2.  We have a 10 1/2 month … Read more… →

Pinecone Crafts

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Craft a turkey using a pinecone, colorful feathers, and a purple paper head with a googly eye. This fun project is great for kids' crafts and adds a festive touch to any holiday decor.

At our church garage sale I picked up a large bag of pine cones for $2.  I suppose I could have found pine cones on the ground, but hey, they were all in a bag right in front of me already.  So, what to do with all of them?  I’m looking for ideas on the internet.  I want to find something to make with the kids at school.   Little Miss Pine cones found here. Painting a Pinecone found here … Read more… →

Creativity Exercise

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I’m going to have some of my students do a creativity exercise on the first day of school to get their juices flowing.  Creativity TestDirections:  Use your imagination to invent something that we could add to the school.  It could be something real, made-up, unbelievable or something that we could actually add to our school.  It could be added to the inside or outside of the school grounds.  It could be decorative or functional.  Draw a very detailed picture of … Read more… →

Clay Figures

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Two small handmade clay figures of zebras, one climbing a block with letters and numbers, and the other on the ground near a striped barrier.

So, you may remember that I made a couple clay figures as demos for a kids’ clay class that I taught.  I painted the girl and put her in a chair that I had.  This is a chair made of sticks that my neighbor made.  He nails them together and ties them with some sort of twine to hold them together.   With the other guy, I painted him, and put him in a box.  The box I had bought … Read more… →

Making Pendants

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Close-up of colorful wire-wrapped stones, ideal for jewelry making, on a yellow background.

Making jewelry is one of the hobbies I enjoy.  When people ask me what kind of art I do on my own, I have a hard time saying what I do… I love photography, jewelry making, collages, drawing, watercolor, clay.  I dabble in a little bit of everything.  So, my mother-in-law and I went to a craft show in Madison this weekend and we want to start selling some crafts.  She is thinking about sewing some kids’ capes for boys … Read more… →

  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.