A group of grade four and six students from Beaverlodge are hoping to brighten the lives of children in foster care. Leading up to Christmas, Beaverlodge Elementary students packed close to 40 backpacks filled with toiletries, toys and snacks and donated them to Luv Packs Grande Prairie. Vice-Principal and grade four Teacher Andrew Lojczyc says he wanted to help after seeing how little children in foster care have.

"Being teachers we know that there's lots of kids in Alberta that are rescued from threatening home situations. A lot of these kids have to enter foster care with nothing of their own... This incentive is basically and opportunity for the kids to gather a lot of different types of products for kids in need whether it's toothbrushes, snacks, toys, combs, shampoo, deodorant; things that they can use immediately just to get out of a tough situation."

Luv Packs Grande Prairie was started by County resident Rebecca Hamm in 2015. With the school program, items are collected by parents, students and teacher and then packed by the grade fours and members of the grade six leadership team. Once collected and packed they are given to Hamm to take to Child and Family Services.

This was grade four student Sarah Dwernychuk's first time packing the backpacks. She wished that she could have been there when the children received them.

"I wish I could see the kids open them and see how their faces react... [I do it] so that kids can actually get things that they need because they can only get about a garbage bag full of things."

Overall, Lojczyc hopes that by packing these bags, his students will learn how to be better people and how to care about others.

"For my students, we want them just to recognize that we're a community and we always want to just give back. We just want to make sure that we're developing citizenship skills in our kids and understand that we live in a world where it's not always about us."

In 2018, Hamm distributed 493 backpacks. She says that works out to around 41 bags a month on average.

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UPDATE: The Beaverlodge Fire Department says their initial investigation determined the electrical smell was coming from within the HVAC system, but there was no danger. A technician has been called to fix the problem.

Classes at Beaverlodge Elementary School are back to normal after an evacuation Wednesday afternoon. Peace Wapiti Public School Division says an odour was detected in the building around 12:30 p.m. and all staff and students were moved to Beaverlodge Regional High School.

The fire department checked the building and declared it safe to return by 1:15 p.m. Everyone has since returned safely.

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The Junior Kindergarten program at Beaverlodge Elementary School is growing. Currently, the school has a program for three-year-olds that need extra supports in school and a two day a week program for four-year-old children.

"Our program focuses on play-based learning for kids," explains principal Paul Cincurak, "so that they can develop fine motor skills and introduce them to the alphabet and numbers. It might be a little more detailed than just a regular pre-school."

The three-year-old program will be expanded to include children of all levels of need, and the four-year-old program will move to three days a week. To qualify, children must be potty-trained and be turning three by the end of 2018.

The school will be holding a drop-in event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on February 23rd for families to meet the instructors and get a tour. Cincurak says it's an opportunity for them to learn more about the benefits of sending their children to school younger.

"I think familiarity with the school and reduction in anxiety, not only for kids but also for parents, is really important here. If those kids can come into the school and spend a year or two with us before they actually hit kindergarten, we've noticed a big difference."

Since Junior Kindergarten was brought in three years ago at the request of the Beaverlodge Playschool Society, enrolment has averaged around 30 students. However, Cincurak says the four-year-old program last year had 62 children, and they're seeing more demand from the community.

If parents don't make it to the opening of registration on February 23, they can do so during regular school hours.

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