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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.

Egyptian Clay Sarcophagus Art Project for 4th and 5th Graders

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Egyptian Clay Sarcophagus Art Project for 4th and 5th Graders

This is a clay lesson that has been a big hit with my students.  You can see my previous posts about this project here and here.  The 4th/5th grade class studies ancient Egypt in their social studies class and they are excited to learn more about the art and architecture in my class.  I show them a Powerpoint with an overview of Egyptian art and then they work on drawing a sarcophagus design of their own.  I encourage them to … Read more… →

10 More Spirit Day Ideas for School!

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10 More Spirit Day Ideas for School!

We are coming up with lots of good ideas for Spirit Days at our school. The first post on Spirit Day ideas was popular with Google searches, so I must not be the only one who is always on the look out for new and fresh ideas for fun days at school. Many art teachers wear multiple hats and end up leading groups like Student Council or plan school wide events.  Here are more Spirit Day ideas we came up … Read more… →

“I Heard You Can Draw!” Book Review

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“I Heard You Can Draw!” Book Review

I was happy to receive a review copy of I Heard You Can Draw: A Story for Class Artists Everywhere, written by M. D. Savran, who is an art teacher and author/illustrator in the Tampa Bay area.  I’m always happy to support other art teachers! The description reads: “Sarah loves to draw. When Mrs. Earl catches her drawing a picture in math class, the entire second grade discovers her talent! Suddenly, everyone asks her to draw pictures for them (strange … Read more… →

15 Favorite Posts from 2013

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  Another year is rapidly coming to a close, so I thought I would spend some time reviewing my favorite projects and blog posts from this year.  Here are my favorite posts, in no particular order! 15.  How to Paint Gorgeous Clouds with Watercolor 14.  Clay Castles 13.  Postage Stamp Art Project 12.  Heart Photography Project with 3rd Grade 11.  25 Amazing Books for Teaching About Art 10.  Editorial cartoons are a unit I teach every year.  We even were … Read more… →

Coffee Filter Snowflakes with 1st grade

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Coffee Filter Snowflakes with 1st grade

The week before winter break, the first graders made colorful coffee filter snowflakes. 1.  Color the coffee filters with washable markers. 2.  Spray with a water bottle and watch the colors magically spread like tie-dye.  Allow to dry overnight. 3.  The next day, fold the circle into half and then half again and half again.  Cut out little shapes and pieces of the coffee filter. 4.  Glue the snowflake on to a colored piece of construction paper.  Glue on confetti, … Read more… →

Winter Pop-up Scene Art Project for 2nd Grade

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Winter Pop-up Scene Art Project for 2nd Grade

Aren’t these fantastic?  I love these pop-up winter scenes. Guess what?  I just made a companion Facebook page for my blog!  I thought it would be fun to have another avenue to easily share all kinds of artsy inspiration I come across.  Most of the Facebook updates will be links to other blogs, articles and interesting artistic things I find around the web.  Of course, I will also share things about my blog, but MOST of the posts will be … Read more… →