Enlist student aid in collecting these. Paints, brushes, and stencils are optional. Cut neatly and evenly along the dotted lines. Hold the cloth to the can with a five inch hose clamp tightened securely around the base of the can. Repeat this process for each mesh size in the set.
Divide cans up into sets of four, one of each mesh size per set.
Teachers may wish to paint the cans and add numbers to them for easy reference. To use the sieves, place a dry sample in the largest mesh can and shake gently over a tray for several minutes. Put the contents that pass through this mesh into the next smaller meshed sieve and repeat the process. Continue in this fashion until each can contains the materials that will NOT pass through the mesh size and the tray contains the finest of all particles, the clay. Mass and or volume comparisons will give relative percent values for each particle size in the sample.