General Information  For Teachers  Outreach Programs  Family Fun  For Students  Tar Heel Junior Historian Association Home / Education / For Teachers / In Your Classroom / Lesson Plans for Teachers / North Carolina Pottery Lesson Plan Grade Level: Designed for early readers. For more lessons on North Carolina pottery, contact the Educational Media Center at 919-807-7995. Competency Goals: K-3 Science Goal 2: The learner will develop the ability to use science process skills. 1-3 Mathematics Goal 4: The learner will exhibit skills in using measurement. Objective: Students will understand that as clay objects dry, water evaporates, and the weight of the object decreases. Time: One school week--30 minutes on the first day, 15 minutes on each of the four remaining days Materials: Air-dry clay, enough for each team of four students to have a one-inch ball of clay Plastic sandwich bags, one per team of four students Clay and Evaporation Student Worksheet, one copy per team of four students Pencils, one per team of four students Weight scales Procedure: Prior to the lesson, make a one-inch ball of clay for every four students in the class. Put each clay ball in a plastic bag and make sure the bag is closed to keep moisture in the clay. Introduce the lesson by explaining the concept of evaporation to students. Discuss how, since clay is a moist soil that holds a good deal of water, when clay pots or figures dry, the water evaporates. Explain that this lesson will examine the effects of evaporation on size and weight of pottery objects. Group students into teams of four and give each team a pencil and a copy of the student worksheet. Have each team create an object with its clay. Next, have each team weigh its object and record the weight on the worksheet. Have each team measure the height and width of its clay object with the ruler. Put objects on a counter or sunny windowsill where they can dry. Talk with students about what they think might happen over time. Each day for the remainder of the week, have students weigh and measure their objects at the beginning or end of class. At the end of the week, discuss the results. What happened to the objects they dried? Why?