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<\/a><\/p>\nOutside in the cafeteria, their parents were carefully choosing seats to ensure they got a front row view for the school\u2019s first-ever Iron Chef-style competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the secret ingredient?\u201d Norfolk Beekeeper Association president Frank Walker, one of three judges, asked as he moved from group to group observing the students measuring, stirring bowls of batter and zipping to sinks to wash dishes so their stations remained clean.<\/p>\n
\u201cHoney!\u201d the students shouted in unison. \u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d Walker confirmed.<\/p>\n
That honey was extracted from Landstown\u2019s beehive, one part of the school\u2019s focus on sustainability, which started a few years back as students began studying the world\u2019s vanishing pollinators<\/a>. The school also started an Earthtastic Club through which students have had an opportunity to work in the school\u2019s garden, plant trees,\u00a0grow more than 200 tomatoes and hear from high school guest speakers who are also involved in sustainability.<\/p>\n This year, Earthtastic Club members worked with chef Kip Poole who is developing the division\u2019s scratch cooking program<\/a> and whose team is testing recipes at Landstown and Old Donation School.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve been exploring cooking skills and they ultimately had to find a recipe with honey,\u201d according to Kim Bielmann, the school\u2019s gifted resource teacher who is one of two club advisers as well as the brainchild behind the study on vanishing pollinators. She added that this is a cross-curricular project since students are bolstering their skills in math as they measure items, reading as they carefully follow recipes and collaboration since they have to work in teams.<\/p>\n There is one other skill that they are quickly learning: problem-solving.<\/p>\n \u201cWe made the cookies a few weeks before just to see how they would turn out and we made a couple of changes,\u201d said fifth grader Arianna Lavaway. \u201cThey were too close to each other and we couldn\u2019t separate them so this time we had only one person place them on the baking sheet so they can space them out perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, fellow fifth grader Audree Simon knew that her team, named Fire, also had to modify their recipe.<\/p>\n \u201cIt tasted too sweet,\u201d she said describing their previous cookie batch, adding that their new strategy was to \u201cdrizzle a little less chocolate.\u201d<\/p>\n