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Lesson Plans
Jelly Bean Fractions
1st–2nd Grade
Objective Objective

Students will recognize and name fractions.


Materials Needed
Introduction Introduction

Set out a glass jar with eight jelly beans—four pink and four green. Pull out three pink ones and one green one, and ask, “Out of these four jelly beans, how many are pink? That’s right—three.” Then explain, “To express this in the form of a fraction, we would write three-fourths.” Write 3/4 on the board. Point to each number as you reinforce what it means, saying, “The fraction three-fourths shows that three out of the four jelly beans are pink.”

Ask, “Can anyone tell me how many of these four jelly beans are green? That’s right—one.” Then ask, “How do you think we could express that in the form of a fraction?” Invite volunteers to offer answers until someone explains that one-fourth shows that one out of the four jelly beans is green.



  1. Tell students that you would like them to help you build other fractions using jelly beans.
  2. Invite a volunteer to call out a number between two and eight. Then have the volunteer pull out that number of jelly beans from the jar.
  3. Remind students that the total number of jelly beans the volunteer pulled out of the jar will go on the bottom of the fraction. This number is the denominator. Write the fraction on the board to demonstrate.
  4. Ask students to count how many of those jelly beans are pink, and write that number on the top of the fraction. Explain that this is the numerator.
  5. Say the fraction aloud and reinforce what it means. (For example, “Three out of the five jelly beans are pink. So the fraction of jelly beans that are pink is three-fifths.”) Then write and explain the fraction of jelly beans that are green. (For example, “The other two jelly beans are green. So the fraction of jelly beans that are green is two-fifths.”)
  6. Repeat the activity with different quantities of jelly beans.

Guided/Independent Practice

Guided/Independent Practice

  1. Provide each student with a Jelly Bean Fractions reproducible, a jelly beans template, a pair of scissors, glue and crayons.
  2. Invite students to cut out as many jelly beans as they like and glue them onto the picture of the jar.
  3. Have students select two colors for their jelly beans. Instruct them to color some of their jelly beans one color and the rest of their jelly beans the other color.
  4. Have them fill in the blanks at the bottom of the page to express the colors of their jelly beans in fraction form.


  1. Invite several students to share their completed pictures and read their sentences aloud.
  2. Display the pictures on a bulletin board titled “Jelly Bean Fractions!”

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