Discuss what labels can be given to each type. Inform students that the terms sand, silt, and clay refer to grain size rather than what the materials are made of. Materials with grains larger than sand are said to be course, and those smaller than silt are fine. Sand can be seen with the naked eye. Silt is visible when magnified, and clay grains cannot be distinguished with a magnifying glass.
Students are to record into their science notebooks what they have done thus far.
It does not have to be written into complete sentences but note fashion is fine. Have students slowly pour all three sediment samples into one of the plastic cups. Over millions of years, the wind and rain wore away the once mighty mountain. A nearby river later transported these sediments many miles from where they were first formed. At an even later point, when the river dried up, the sediments settled out of the water that transported them, and finally came to rest.