Alternative to filtering, I can't remember what it was called. Help?

Let's say you have a beaker full of sand, salt, and water. The salt is well dissolved in the water, while the sand has sunk. Your purpose is to isolate the sand. My teacher told us we could take a stirring rod, put it in the beaker, and ever so slightly tip the beaker so that the sand would flow out. Does anyone know what this method would be called?