Lesson Three: Mixing Colors
Famous American artist Georgia O'Keeffe said, "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way- things I had no words for." Today in Mrs. Whipple's class we learned about color! Our objective was to introduce some new art vocabulary (primary, secondary, warm & cool colors) that students could use to describe their artwork, and examine mood that accompanies the use of different colors.
First, to introduce primary colors, I had the students stand up and split into three groups around the class, which we labeled as the red, yellow, and blue groups. I told the students that we now had every color represented in our groups, and they were quick to point out the colors that weren't represented like orange, purple, pink, brown, etc. Then I explained that these three color groups (red, yellow, blue) are considered primary colors, and that we mix primary colors together to get all other colors. I explained that when we mix equal amounts of two primary colors, we get a secondary color. We dramatized this in our color groups: two students from the red and yellow groups came together to form orange, two students from the yellow and blue groups came together to form green, and two students from the blue and red groups came together to form purple. Orange, green, and purple are our secondary colors.
Our art activity for today was creating our own color wheel by mixing primary colors. We first went over our art rules and I reminded students of the importance of following directions and taking care of art materials. I passed out color wheel templates, brushes, water cups, and paint plates to the students. Each paint plate had the three primary color paints on it, and students shared these plates in partnerships. We started with the primary colors (the paints they already had). First I modeled how to use the brush to get the paint and then paint the assigned portion of the circle, and then the students painted their own. Then, I modeled mixing a secondary color by taking a bit of two primary colors and stirring them together- and then painting that color on the wheel in between the two primary color sections we used to mix the secondary color. The students then worked in their partnerships to mix and paint their first, second, and third secondary colors.
There were a couple of students who accidentally painted in the wrong section on their color wheel, but were able to use what they've learned about how colors are made to correct themselves. For example, Natalie accidentally painted her 'green' section blue, so in order to correct it she just added yellow paint on top of it because she knew two primary colors make a secondary color. I was impressed that she (and other students) not only understood the different types of colors and how they're made, but could apply that knowledge in real practice.
Once students were done, I had them identify to their partners which colors were primary, secondary, warm and cool, and which one was their favorite. I had a lot of students let me know that they really wanted to mix all the colors together on the plate- and because teaching is nothing if not constant adapting, I let them do so. Then we talked about the color that was made when we mixed everything together, and why everyone's plate was slightly different than others. The students were able to identify that this new color was neither a primary or secondary color, because we mixed more than two primary colors to get it. I was surprised that such a simple activity like the color wheel could create so much understanding, and that these bright 2nd graders were able to grasp it all. I asked students to think about the colors they saw this next week and how they could classify them based on what we learned today, because we will be using colors in our next activity!
First, to introduce primary colors, I had the students stand up and split into three groups around the class, which we labeled as the red, yellow, and blue groups. I told the students that we now had every color represented in our groups, and they were quick to point out the colors that weren't represented like orange, purple, pink, brown, etc. Then I explained that these three color groups (red, yellow, blue) are considered primary colors, and that we mix primary colors together to get all other colors. I explained that when we mix equal amounts of two primary colors, we get a secondary color. We dramatized this in our color groups: two students from the red and yellow groups came together to form orange, two students from the yellow and blue groups came together to form green, and two students from the blue and red groups came together to form purple. Orange, green, and purple are our secondary colors.
Once students sat back down, I projected a color wheel (showing just the primary and secondary colors) up on the board. We talked about the words 'warm' and 'cool' and which colors on the wheel best matched those colors. We defined blue, purple and green as cool colors and red, yellow and orange as warm colors. Then, we looked at some examples of paintings and images. We identified the primary and secondary colors used, and whether the artwork overall used more warm or cool colors. At this point I was really confident in the students' knowledge of the new vocab.
Our art activity for today was creating our own color wheel by mixing primary colors. We first went over our art rules and I reminded students of the importance of following directions and taking care of art materials. I passed out color wheel templates, brushes, water cups, and paint plates to the students. Each paint plate had the three primary color paints on it, and students shared these plates in partnerships. We started with the primary colors (the paints they already had). First I modeled how to use the brush to get the paint and then paint the assigned portion of the circle, and then the students painted their own. Then, I modeled mixing a secondary color by taking a bit of two primary colors and stirring them together- and then painting that color on the wheel in between the two primary color sections we used to mix the secondary color. The students then worked in their partnerships to mix and paint their first, second, and third secondary colors. 
There were a couple of students who accidentally painted in the wrong section on their color wheel, but were able to use what they've learned about how colors are made to correct themselves. For example, Natalie accidentally painted her 'green' section blue, so in order to correct it she just added yellow paint on top of it because she knew two primary colors make a secondary color. I was impressed that she (and other students) not only understood the different types of colors and how they're made, but could apply that knowledge in real practice. 
**I've posted a link to my lesson plan for this week under the 'Resources' page of this blog.
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