My first grade students were studying economics. Our objective for the day involved recognizing the difference between producers and consumers. Reading a text book or using work sheets just doesn't seem to get the point across. What better way to observe producers at work than to "visit" a factory!

I first showed the bag of Jelly Bellys to the children and asked how they thought the candies got in the bag. I recorded their responses on a large chart. We then prepared to go on our tour by pretending to get our coats, climb on the bus, and ride to the factory. Once we "arrived," we began our tour. I would pause the video periodically to answer any questions during the tour. The "Oos" and "Ahs" were flowing from the children as they watched the many machines and colors transform the liquid into the tasty candies!

Upon completion of our tour, we, of course, enjoyed the Jelly Bellies which were sent with the video package and a good learning experience was had by all!

We will put our knowledge of how a factory works to good use during the month of May. I have organized a "Food Court" for the first grade team of teachers. Each class will produce and sell a product to the students and teachers at our school. My class will be making doughnuts and will set up an assembly line to prepare the doughnuts for sale. Our proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross.

Thank you for sharing this film with us!

Kathleen G. Flickinger
G. H. Reid Elementary School
Richmond, Virginia

“Right before Easter break, I used the video Mr. Jelly Belly’s Factory Tour with my third graders to add something fun, yet educational, to our daily lessons. I had the class work in groups, each with their own bag of Jelly Belly® beans which I had presorted into different flavors and colors. The lesson started with each group estimating the weight of their bag of jelly beans. From there they weighed the bag on a scale. They then had to find the difference between their estimate and the actual weight. Next they estimated how many were in the bag, and again, they had to find the difference between the estimate and actual number.

“Then they sorted their beans by color. They determined which set had the least and which had the most using >, < or = to show the relationship between the sets. The next step was to complete equations with the sets, such as ‘the number of tangerine flavor x the number of cinnamon.’ I used addition, subtraction and multiplication problems. Finally the group got to divide up the jelly beans and EAT! The class had a great time with this activity and it incorporated many different learning standards.”

Nancy Zoricak
St. Benedict’s School
Eggertsville, New York

I used the Jelly Belly video at a time when my class was studying “wants” versus “needs” and identifying capital, human and natural resources in social studies, patterns and graphs in math, the human body in science and feelings in health. I incorporated jelly beans into all those subject areas!

Before we viewed the video, we talked a lot about our prior experiences with jelly beans. Then we viewed the video and commented on how all three resources – natural, capital and human – were needed to produce jelly beans. After much discussion, we also determined that even though we liked them a lot, jelly beans were a “want” and not a “need.” However, we did write a letter to the Easter Bunny asking him to put lots of jelly beans in our baskets (a nice, fun way to incorporate English into a final essay).

Susan Evans
Piney Point Elementary School
Tall Timbers, Maryland

My students are ages 5-6 and most are minority students, many of whom do not speak English. On a very basic level, I am using the Jelly Belly video to explore and study the letter “J.” All my students certainly benefit and enjoy “visiting” the factory, but what I like best is the wide range of visuals that benefit children who are learning to speak English as a second language. Additionally, our class is doing many “jelly bean activities:” graphing, counting with a 1:1 correspondence, adding and many other projects. I have made several jelly bean books and the books will help us review colors, positional words and counting. My students love fool and find units of study that involve the sense of taste very motivating!

Marlise Tiffany
Gertrude Walker Elementary School
Garden City, Kansas

I teach sixth grade economics and one of the concepts we cover is productivity and quality control. I use the Jelly Belly video as an introduction to my “hands on” production activity where students are divided into production groups and produce as many high-quality Valentine cards, from a template, as possible in a given amount of time. Then we “distribute” the acceptable cards to local children’s hospitals, nursing homes and care centers. Thanks for the wonderful resources!

Teresa Mabary
Hickory County R-1 Elementary School
Urbana, Missouri