Where's Hellie?

The last few weeks I've been in a tiny little classroom in the senior infant prefab. Sounds odd I know but that's the Learning support room for the senior classes. And for a small room it's really busy! I see different people every half hour and each child is extremely different and challenging in many ways.

One of my favourite resources in there a simple book, one that as small fry ourselves we loved. Well I did anyway. And that's Where's Wally? There's a few children that come to me every day that I use Where's Wally with. I find it very helpful when working with kids with ADHD and ADD. It takes some serious concentration to find the wiley Wally and that can be very difficult if you have ADHD or ADD. There's always great excitement in my room when Wally or Wenda are found. I've tried it, it's tough enough to find walkabout Wally. There's a sense of pride and achievement that can be quite rare and hard to see in some children and I admit it, I'm always a little proud when I see them proud of themselves. Sure who wouldn't be?
For those of you who don't know the book I'll give you a basic run down. Wally is a normal looking guy. He wears red and white stripped jumper and hat with a red pom pom on top. He has blue pants and brown shoes. Nothing hugely fashionable and if we saw him walking down Henry Street today we'd probably stop and stare but in this book he doesn't stand out at all. He hides in the middle of a large gathering of people and the idea is to find him. And his friends of course, Wenda, the Wizard Whitebeard, Oddlaw and Wally's dog Woof. There's also a list of items to find in each picture such as Wenda's camera and other bits and pieces.

Wally isn't a small book, he's very very popular. There's 7 books in total. We now have three of them in the resource room. And the kids love them. I use them as mini treat as they really do enjoy trying to find Wally that said I try to make sure that they have time at least once a week to spend a few minutes looking for Wally. There's some kids who find them faster then others and there are some who struggle but they all love the book. And you can see their confidence growing as they master each page and move on to either finding the next item on the list or onto the next page or even book. It's amazing to see. Especially from such a simple book and idea. Wally has sparked spin offs of course, there's always a Where's Stig version based on the Top Gear character Stig and in the states there's Where's Waldo but for me, you just can't beat good ole fashioned Where's Wally?

Wise words today? Invest in a Where's Wally? book, they're on offer at the moment two for the price of one in O Manonys Bookshop Limerick