By now, our first graders have learned that primary colors make secondary colors when mixed together. This lesson throws the next level of colors, "tertiary" colors or those created when a primary and a secondary color are mixed, into the color equation.
We start by lightly tracing a circle tracer and then dividing the circle into eighths with four intersecting lines (good fractions practice!) Before telling them what they are drawing, I have them erase their original circle and connect the ends of their lines with straight or curving lines. By now they usually recognize they're creating an umbrella. Either way, once the secret is out, they add a person beneath their umbrella and go over the whole drawing with a Sharpie.
We begin coloring the umbrella sections (with oil pastels because they mix so well) with the primary colors, and since it's crucial to leaving certain sections uncolored, I'm very specific about where the primaries go. Next, with similar guidance, the students color in the appropriate secondary colors between their primaries. But that still leaves a "problem" -- two uncolored sections. Here, students learn the word "tertiary," the next level of colors on the color wheel. They learn that by mixing a primary and a secondary color, they make a completely new one that is neither primary or secondary. This also reinforces that they can create an almost infinite number of colors beginning with just the primary colors.
We finish these artworks off by adding rain and puddles with white oil pastels and then painting the entire ground and sky with blue and purple watercolors. I think the results are worthy of a picture book story about a rainy day brightened by a colorful umbrella!
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