Czaplicki A2 Clay Whistles

A prarie dog whistle!

And a sea turtle whistle!

We have our first few whistles today. Soon they will be fired in what is called a "bisque firing." This will heat them to tempertures close to 1800 degree! It will cure them and make sure that all the water is removed. It will make them very hard and durable. Then we will glaze them. They will be fired one more time and then our beautiful musical instruments will be ready to play.

Czaplicki A2 Clay Animal Whistle

These are two examples of my 6th grade sculpture projects. Look at the AWESOME texture on this Grizzly Bear! We transformed a simple half circle shape into these AMAZING animals. Next we will turn them into working whistles.

I love seeing the students use these higher level thinking skills to figure out how to make a lump of clay look and feel like an animal. The students are feeling very successful with this project. Ask them about their whistle!