Notre Dame Cathedral Art Projects- Stained Glass Windows

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A colorful, circular mandala design with intricate patterns on a dark background, evoking the beauty of stained glass windows.

After the devastating fire this week at the Notre Dame cathedral, I put some of my previously planned lessons on hold. We are making a bulletin board in tribute of the Notre Dame cathedral. One of my classes is making some stunning and highly detailed pen drawings of parts of the cathedral and the gargoyles. Watercolor washes will be added to the background. I am super impressed with how these are coming along, but none are finished to show you … Read more… →

Activa Clay and Jack Richeson Metallic Paints

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Colorful doodles of flowers, hearts, squiggles, and stars on a dark background enhanced with glimmers of metallic paints.

Hi! I am here today to tell you about 2 products that I enjoyed learning about at the NAEA Convention in the vendor halls. What is the vendor hall at NAEA? The vendor hall is one of my favorite parts of the convention. I love trying out new art materials, techniques and buying art resources! Here are some of the things I got as samples or purchased in the vendor hall. (Most were free!) In the vendor hall, I stopped … Read more… →

Encaustic for Elementary, Tooling Foil and One Step-Mosaics!

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Encaustic for Elementary, Tooling Foil and One Step-Mosaics!

I experimented with some amazing and fun art techniques at the NAEA ’19 Conference that I am going to share with you today. These are ticketed hands-on workshops that are longer (2 hours) and cost a little extra ($39 each). But, the extra cost is SO worth it! INSIDER TIP: Before I start going through some of the tips that I learned, I wanted to tell you that if you download the NAEA Convention App for your phone, you can … Read more… →

Peter H. Reynolds on Creativity

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At the 2019 NAEA Conference, a projector screen displays the colorful text "CREATE BRAVELY" with an audience in dark view. FableVision and Peter H. Reynolds' logos are visible.

One of the presentations I was most looking forward to going to at NAEA ’19 was the author Peter H. Reynolds. Most elementary art teachers are familiar with his books.. they are all so colorful and teach about those concepts we want our students to learn. The Dot The book called The Dot is the one that I think most people have heard of. I have done lots and lots of projects about dots using this book. You can see … Read more… →

Amy Sherald and Howard Gardner at NAEA ’19 Conference

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Portrait of a woman sitting and wearing a patterned dress against a light blue background.

The National Art Education Association conference this year had some thought-provoking and inspiring speakers, as usual! In this post, I will tell you about Amy Sherald and Howard Gardner. Next, I will share about Peter Reynolds! Amy Sherald, portrait artist The first speaker I went to see was Amy Sherald, who is best known as the portrait artist for Michelle Obama’s presidential portrait. Here is a video of her talking about this portrait. Amy Sherald creates large scale figurative paintings … Read more… →

NAEA Conference 2019

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A smiling person with glasses takes a selfie in front of a spiky green glass sculpture inside a modern building, capturing the vibrant energy of the 2019 NAEA Conference.

I had a very exciting trip to Boston last week for the National Art Education Association Conference. If you have never been to one before, you should really try to go some year. It’s quite the experience! The conference was from Thursday-Saturday last week and it was jam-packed full of workshops, speakers, vendors, meeting friends, site-seeing and walking back and forth around the hotel/conference center. I am going to split up my experience into a few different blog posts. Here … Read more… →

Hot Air Balloon Watercolor Paintings

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Hot Air Balloon Watercolor Paintings

In this hot air balloon painting project, my 2nd grade students learned about types of lines, watercolor gradations and warm & cool colors. I saw beautiful, colorful hot air balloon paintings awhile ago from Painted Paper, which you can see by clicking here. I knew I wanted to try something similar. The students learned about warm and cool colors. I set up liquid watercolors in little cups inside muffin tins. I have tried so many different ways to set up … Read more… →

Girl Scout Cookie Math

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Girl Scout Cookie Math

Some of you might know that I am a Girl Scout troop leader! This blog is mostly for talking about art teacher related things, but I thought other Girl Scout leaders might find this useful! I made this math sheet up for my Girl Scout troop! They are 3rd graders and they enjoy math, so I figured they would get a kick out of this sheet. (For the one I gave my girls, I used their names. I changed the … Read more… →

100 Positive Mindset Affirmations and Quotes for Kids

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100 Positive Mindset Affirmations and Quotes for Kids

My students are making kindness bookmarks now when they have free time. These are some positive mindset affirmations and mantras that I wrote or collected. Great for kids! Great for art projects or art journaling! For a high resolution PDF copy, visit my TPT shop for a FREE DOWNLOAD: 100 Positive Mindset Phrases for Kids

Pop Art Snowmen Project

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Pop Art Snowmen Project

I have a new art lesson plan to show you! I wrote this for a substitute lesson, but you can make it as simple or complex as you want to. My students were very interested in watching me design my snowman picture and they were amazed at how detailed the background was, but also they felt confident they could create a Pop Art snowman picture of their own. This lesson is available for purchase in my shop and includes Snowman … Read more… →

Snowflake Template: Easy to Draw!

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A colorful geometric design featuring floral elements in blue, green, purple, and pink.

I used this simple “Snowflake Starter” to help my 1st and 2nd graders draw their own snowflakes.  This is a great way to teach about radial symmetry.  If you are going to use watercolor paints or glue thicker materials on to the paper, print the templates onto thicker cardstock.  Simply draw shapes or designs on the spokes of the snowflake.  If you draw something on one line, make sure to repeat the same shape or design all the way around.   … Read more… →

Georgia O’Keeffe and Flower Paintings for Kids

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Four vibrant flower paintings, labeled as a Georgia O'Keeffe study, set against a purple background with the title below.

I love these tempera paint flowers that are inspired by the artwork of Georgia O’Keeffe.   These close-up paintings were created by my 2nd grade students last year. The children used photo references to draw large flowers. Then, they painted with colors and finally, outlined in black paint.  I really love the white polka dot on black background in the top right picture.  I may suggest a patterned background to students next time I teach this project.     To tie in … Read more… →

My Dad’s Quilt with Pen & Ink Drawings

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A pen and ink artwork of Chicago's Millennium Park, showcasing the Crown Fountain with large faces displayed on towers.

My Dad recently received this amazing gift that I thought you would be interested in seeing!  My Dad went in for some serious surgery a few weeks ago and a group of quilters from his church made him this beautiful quilt!  The reason it is so special is that the quilt is made up of square of HIS pen and ink drawings.  Every year, my Dad draws many pen & ink drawings of places he visits on vacation and of … Read more… →

I’m on a Podcast! Art Class Curator Podcast

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Podcast cover for Episode #25, includes her photo and a quote about making projects personally meaningful.

I am so excited to let you know that I recently was interviewed on the Art Class Curator Podcast! I was so honored to be invited by Cindy Ingram to be on her show.  Visit her blog, Art Class Curator, to hear the podcast! Show Highlights: Marcia shares how she started her own art blog What makes Marcia’s school different from most How Marcia and her fellow teachers work together to reinforce lesson plans Marcia shares examples of how her … Read more… →

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