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Custom Design Feature | Chew Chew Mama

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Custom Design Feature | Chew Chew Mama

We love doing custom designs for people with passion! Cindy, also known as Chew Chew Mama, is one of them. She’s a return customer who needed to upgrade her blog to a website to better support the growth of her site. Here’s a look at the original blog design we created for her:

It was a blog design full of fun colors and featured a simple recent post slider. Cindy wanted her upgraded website to have a more minimalistic and modern look.

Finding the perfect style

We started the project by finding colors and fonts that complimented Cindy’s vision. She loved her logo and but decided, in keeping with her new modern look, that she wanted to change it to a simple sleek font, possibly mixed with a handwritten font. We played around with a few font options and tried a pink/mint color comibination for the site colors. Here are the first three options we created:

Once Cindy saw the previews, she decided she wasn’t loving the color combos. This is why previews are created–to help put the clients vision down onto paper so that the vision can be tweeked until we get it just right. It’s a wonderful and necessary part of the design process. Sometimes a clients vision doesn’t translate into something they actually like once it’s put onto paper and so it then gives them the opportunity to try alternative options that maybe they hadn’t thought about before. Mood boards help to fine tune the vision into something the client can’t wait to have brought to life.

Finally, after a few revisions, we were able to help Cindy find a color palette and logo style she loved. Here is the final mood board version:

Creating the website design

Building Cindy’s new website took us a few months because it was such a huge overhaul, which required building custom content pages and custom functionalities for her site. We strongly recommend that you hop over to her site to check out the live version.

Here is a full-length view of the final website design:

Click here to view larger

Final thoughts

We love how clean, tidy, and modern the site ended up looking! Because she went with a more subtle color palette, it really allows her beautiful photos to shine and stand as strong focal points.

If you are looking for a custom blog or website design, visit our Custom Design Services page for more info and to request a quote.

What Are Your Hometown’s Shortcomings?

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What Are Your Hometown’s Shortcomings?

Find all our Student Opinion questions here.

What are some things about your hometown that bother you most?

Is it too cold? Are there too many people? Is there not enough going on?

Do these drawbacks make you consider leaving one day, or are they things you hate-love and would secretly miss if they were no longer present in your life?

In “Let’s Hear It for Your Hometown Shortcomings!” Victor Mather writes:

When a group in Minneapolis-St. Paul started an ultimate Frisbee team, it could have chosen a nickname to honor the two cities, like the Twins. Or something about the region’s heritage, like the Vikings. Or a celebration of the great outdoors, like the Timberwolves or the Wild.

Instead, the Minnesota team in the American Ultimate Disc League is called the Wind Chill.

It’s a curious thing that some professional teams choose nicknames not from their city’s best features, but instead, arguably, from their worst. It doesn’t seem like the wind chill, which regularly dips deep into negative territory in Minneapolis, would be a local selling point.

Ben Feldman, a team co-owner, had an explanation: “In Minnesota, we experience some of the most brutal wind chill temperatures in the winter months, and we want our opponents to feel that very same pain when they step onto the field to play against us.”

Fair enough. But what about the New York affiliate of Premier Ultimate League? With so many great things to choose from in the city, the team picked … the New York Gridlock. Perhaps the logic is wanting opponents to feel pain similar to being stuck in stop-start rush-hour traffic.

Surely these teams could have done something nice for their tourism boards by trying to sugarcoat their nicknames? But it’s the Miami Heat of the N.B.A., not the Miami Sunshine or the Miami Delightful Beach Weather.

And then there are the teams named after potentially deadly natural disasters endemic to their regions. The San Jose Earthquakes, the Colorado Avalanche, the Miami Hurricanes and the Iowa State Cyclones. What attracted you to Ames? The chance of a deadly twister!

The article concludes:

As teams seek more and more colorful nicknames to stand out in a crowded marketplace and sell merchandise, the trend of highlighting the worst of a region may continue. Perhaps we can look forward to the Los Angeles Mudslides, the New York Noise and the San Francisco High Cost of Living.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

  • What are your hometown’s shortcomings? How do these shortcomings affect you personally? Is there one that bothers you most? Tell us about a time when you directly experienced this.

  • Do others share your opinion of this local defect? Are there any local jokes or sayings about this aspect of your town?

  • Do you, your friends and family spend a lot of time complaining about these shortcomings? Or, have you come to accept them? Have you or has anyone you know ever tried to address, change or improve these features of your town?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Lesson of the Day: ‘It’s Slime. And It’s Satisfying.’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘It’s Slime. And It’s Satisfying.’

Find all our Lessons of the Day here.

Featured Article: “It’s Slime. And It’s Satisfying.”

“Slime content has invaded the satisfaction internet and oozed into the American middle school. Slime is an art form, a community and an industry: sensory gratification tubbed and sold,” Amanda Hess writes about that sticky substance between liquid and solid.

In this lesson, students explore the appeal of slime among young people and then write their own pieces about the trends and fads they think symbolize modern childhood.

Do you or have you ever played with slime? What do you like (or dislike) about it?

Before you read, watch the video below and scroll through some of the other videos and images in today’s featured article. Take note of the different sensations you have as you look at them. What do you see, hear, feel, taste and smell when you see these images? How do they make you feel?

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. Amanda Hess begins the article by writing, “One of the internet’s greatest features is satisfaction on demand.” What does she mean by that? How is slime an example of that?

2. What role do the five senses — sight, sound, smell, taste and touch — play in the experience of slime?

3. How does Chloe Park, the creator of Slime New York, wield these senses to market and sell her product? Are her efforts successful?

4. How is slime “a symbol of modern childhood, and in particular, girlhood,” according to Ms. Hess? Do you agree with her assessment? Why or why not?

5. Ms. Hess argues that part of slime’s appeal is that it is an “escape” from our screens and other worries intensified by the internet. She ends the article by writing:

It is probably not a coincidence that slime has risen just as we have come to define ourselves by our anxieties, our food issues, and our efforts to fend it all off with practices of self-care. The internet can replicate and exacerbate these stressors, but slime can work in the opposite way, as a kind of timeline cleanse. The word “satisfy” comes from the Old French satisfaire, which meant to repay or make reparations. Perhaps that is what slime is: the internet’s atonement for everything else.

Do you agree? Why do you think slime is trending at this moment?

Media Literacy

Amanda Hess, the author of this piece, is an adult writing about a fad that is largely popular among children and teenagers. Does her assessment of modern childhood and young people’s love of slime speak to your own experience of being a teenager today?

If not, try your hand at writing an article about a trend or fad that is popular among your peers. It can be short — just a paragraph or two — or as long as the one you read today.

Use Ms. Hess’s piece as a model for your own writing. Like her, you might:

  • Choose a trend that you think is a “symbol of modern childhood.”

  • Describe it and explain why you think young people find it appealing.

  • Then, analyze it: What does it say about the world or teenage life today?

If you have more time, you might incorporate some other good journalism practices: Conduct research online to see what others have written about the trend. Interview your classmates or other experts and include their quotes in your article. Add images, videos, tweets or Instagram posts that help illustrate your point. Finally, share your piece with your classmates or another audience.

Fashion Idols

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Fashion Idols

“The hip-hop generation has arrived in luxury fashion,” Jon Caramanica writes in a recent piece about street wear’s next generation of innovators and inspirations.

What are your thoughts on today’s fashion trends? Which do you love and which do you hate?

Who inspires your style? Who would you consider your “fashion idols” — whether they’re famous or your own friends, family and acquaintances — and why?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more about today’s upcoming style luminaries.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan. You can find all our Picture Prompts in this column.

Word + Quiz: adage

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Word + Quiz: adage

: a condensed but memorable saying that embodies some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people

_________

The word adage has appeared in 99 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on July 25 in “Letting Go of the Sentimental but Not Very Comfortable Couch” by Joan Lebow:

In my family, the old saying “The shoemaker’s daughter goes barefoot” had special meaning. My mother and father manufactured high-fashion women’s shoes sold in Bloomingdale’s and Saks, while I opted to wear construction boots or clogs on most days.

Years later, in my own house, I adapted a new version of that adage: “The furniture maker’s wife sits on the floor.”

_________

Dropping the Reader Into a Scene: ‘A Wedding Dress I Never Expected: A Sari’

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Dropping the Reader Into a Scene: ‘A Wedding Dress I Never Expected: A Sari’

Here is how this essay begins:

Ten minutes after meeting my future mother-in-law, I was wearing only underwear and socks. Acres of magenta chiffon and piles of gold sequins and faux-emerald jewelry — the regalia for my engagement ceremony — lay on the bed. I sucked in my stomach as she deftly wrapped the fabric around my waist. But in the Kolkata humidity, the sari clung to my skin like Saran Wrap. My consternation must have been apparent, because she rushed to reassure me. “Don’t worry!” she said warmly. “You will look sundor!” That means beautiful in Bengali.

  • What does this first paragraph tell you about the characters and situation? Can you picture the scene as you read it? What details help you do that?

  • What questions do you have about the story and characters now that you’ve read the opening? Where do you predict the essay will go from here?

Now, take a look at the next two paragraphs:

My fiancé, Gourab, had for the most part abandoned me to his mother’s ministrations. But as she pinned and tucked the sari around me, I periodically saw his face bob up behind me in the mirror with an approving smile. For several months before our trip, he had asked me to study a Bengali-English dictionary. He also rehearsed with me the gestures of respect for Bengali elders, leading me to believe that his family was very traditional. So I was quite nervous about our stay in his hometown, worried that I would embarrass everyone with my boisterousness or incorrect pronunciations.

My parents left India for the United States 40 years ago, and we returned only occasionally for brief visits to see my grandparents. This trip to Kolkata was my first exposure to a modern Indian family, albeit one that could trace its roots in the city for generations, and I was meeting them not as a casual visitor but as a bride. Among the American-born Indians I knew, I was perhaps the least likely to fall in love with someone from my parents’ homeland. I grew up in a household that only selectively embraced Indian culture. We adhered to the basic values: respect for elders, education and hard work. But when it came to religious rituals, superstition, three-hour Bollywood bonanzas and strict vegetarianism, my parents — both physicists — opted out. By the time I met Gourab, I was an expert in rolling my eyes at Indian tradition.

  • Did these next two paragraphs help answer some of the questions the first paragraph raised? How?

  • Let’s say this writer decided not to start as she did, but instead began with the kind of background she gives in paragraphs two and three. How would that change the piece?

Take a look at a narrative essay or story that you have written. How does it begin? Can you experiment with dropping your readers directly into a key scene instead? How does that change the piece? What background will you need to include in the paragraphs that follow?

For more inspiration, check out the openings of the five additional essays we’ve included in the “More Mentor Texts” section below. You might even borrow ideas from them to practice.

For example…

  • Have you ever had a horrible job, whether paid, volunteer, or just a household chore? Write a first paragraph taking us directly into the action, the way “The Monkey Suit” does.

  • What are some memorable moments from the summers of your childhood? Choose one — whether from camp, a vacation, or just hanging out with family or friends — and write an opening that starts right at a dramatic moment, like the one in “What I Learned at Summer Camp.”

  • Another option: Start your essay with a key conversation, the way “The Good Student in North Korea” does. (You might also take a look at our Mentor Text edition on writing dialogue for help.)

  • Has there ever been a moment in your life when you just “knew there would be trouble”? Look at how the narrator in “My Mother’s Water Cure” sets a scene and briefly introduces the characters, all in just a few sentences. Try writing your own version that sets the reader up for whatever “trouble” you are describing.

  • Remember that you can pull a reader into a scene with just one great first sentence, like the one that begins “A Rat’s Tale.” Use that sentence as a template to experiment. Focus on a family relationship, whether with a parent or guardian, sibling, aunt, uncle or cousin, and fill in the blanks: “I was _________[age] when my _________[relative] ___________ [did or said something I’ll never forget.]”

Below each title, we’ve excerpted the opening from each piece to show you five ways to “drop the reader into the scene.”

“The Monkey Suit,” a 2011 essay from the Lives column, by Joel Lovell

There were a couple of dozen costumes to choose from — Superman and spaceman and muscleman and Popeye and, inexplicably, Baby Huey — but unless the customer had something specific in mind, I went with the gorilla suit every time. I delivered cakes and flowers and balloons. I sang songs upon request. I was just old enough for it to be a horrible job.

“What I Learned at Summer Camp,” a 2019 Op-Ed, by Jennifer Finney Boylan

We were up to our necks in the gurgling swamp.

The counselor in charge of Nature Walk, Tom, had taken us to this pungent fen, filled with snapping turtles and croaking frogs. “Can we go in?” asked one of the campers. Counselor Tom didn’t see why not.

“The Good Student in North Korea,” a 2014 essay from the Lives column, by Suki Kim

The student was not interested in small talk.

“Have you heard of ‘The Song of General Kim Jong-il’?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said cautiously.

“What do you think of it?” he asked.

I froze. Complete honesty was out of the question.

“My Mother’s Miracle-Water Cure,” a 2014 essay from the Lives column, by Michelle Herrera Mulligan

When my mother pulled up in front of our house in a flatbed truck, my stomach dropped. It was summer, and she’d been away for two weeks. Her boyfriend was carrying a large plastic container. I knew there would be trouble. My younger brother, Dan, who was not quite a teenager yet and used a wheelchair to get around, rushed to the front door to lock it.

“A Rat’s Tale,” a 2011 essay from the Lives column, by Tony Gervino

I was 6 when my brother John leaned across the kitchen table and casually whispered that he had killed Santa Claus.

  • How does being dropped into a scene pull you into the story? Does it make you want to keep reading? What do you learn from just these few first lines?

  • What questions does this opening raise? What background does the reader now need to understand the story? How does the writer supply it?

  • Consider how else the writer might have started the story. Was this the best choice? Why?

GUEST POST: Reading From Screens Compared To Paper: What Are The Differences?

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GUEST POST: Reading From Screens Compared To Paper: What Are The Differences?

References:

(1) Clinton, V. (in-press). Reading from paper compared to screens: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Reading.

(2) Delgado, P., Vargas, C., Ackerman, R., & Salmerón, L. (in-press). Don’t throw away your printed books: A meta-analysis on the effects of reading media on reading comprehension. Educational Research Review.

(3) Kong, Y., Seo, Y. S., & Zhai, L. (2018). Comparison of reading performance on screen and on paper: A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, 123, 138-149. 

(4) Singer, L. & Alexander, P. (2017b). Reading on paper and digitally: What the past decades of empirical research reveal. Review of Educational Research, 87(6), 1007–1041. 

(5) Sidi, Y., Shpigelman, M., Zalmanov, H., & Ackerman, R. (2017). Understanding metacognitive inferiority on screen by exposing cues for depth of processing. Learning and Instruction, 51, 61-73.

What Students Are Saying About: Summer Memories, Gifted and Talented Programs and Going Back to School

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What Students Are Saying About: Summer Memories, Gifted and Talented Programs and Going Back to School

My eyes open to the rays of sunlight coming through the rip in my shade lighting up my entire room. I see 12:00 on my alarm clock. I can smell my brother making breakfast downstairs and I wonder what intricate meal he decided to conjure up this morning. My ears awaken to the sound of the TV and I know my sister is watching her favorite crappy reality TV show. I did many memorable things this summer but when I think of the summer of 2019, I remember the few weeks that my entire family was home. I love when my siblings come home from college. It makes me feel nostalgic, bringing back feelings from when I was younger when we all lived together, in that small apartment, fighting, playing, and sharing meals. Although being with my family is no dramatic summer adventure, it was still the most memorable few weeks of my summer. My whole family under the same roof is rare and makes my house feel like a home, which is something I take for granted.

— Ruthie Stein, Providence RI

With 2 pillows, a big blanket, a bag full of spicy chips, my best friend and I drove from providence to conimicut beach a few minutes pass midnight. Settling the blanket on the sand first, then the pillows, we laid down to notice a clear sky full of stars. We stayed there star gazing hearing the tides grow every minute. We talked for hours, going over different conspiracy theories and our fears on entering senior year. Such a simple moment, yet still the most memorable.

— Karina, Providence RI

July 26, 2019. The worst last day of school ever. Some time prior, I was informed that the family would be moving to Providence from New York City due to my father’s job. Nobody had any say in the matter, not even my dad. We finished the school year pairing down our possessions and packing our belongings. While most of the kids would be meeting up with friends and doing fun things over the summer, I would be settling into a new home, away from both friends and fun. Sure, I would be going to a summer program at Yale, but that was only two weeks. Yale came and went, and after that, I only was able to see one of my friends one time. The rest of the summer, I waited for school to start again. I tried to make up for my loneliness with games and friends from the internet, but to no avail. I tried getting a job. I’m still waiting on a response. My parents made me work on a college essay. None of these helped me not think about my loneliness. Now that school is in, I’m trying to make friends and fit in, but as a transfer student, it isn’t the easiest task. I wish we never had to move. My life is still in NYC.

— Alexander Stewart, Providence, RI

Over the summer I worked as a day camp counselor, supervising a group that consisted mainly of little 5 and 6 year olds. The job was relatively easy, considering my only real responsibilities were making sure these children didn’t kill each other, but it came with the various challenges that 5 and 6 year olds bring, such as the spontaneous tantrums, bathroom troubles and random spurs of disobedience. While trying to bring a camper to the director who refused to move, he threw a fit in my arms, hitting, kicking and biting me. After he was sent home, he came back the next day with a letter he had written to me, apologizing for throwing a fit the previous day, and concluded his letter with “I love you.”

— Joey, Providence

This summer I had the opportunity to play King Claudius in a production of Hamlet at the Gamm Theatre Summer Intensive. Throughout the entire experience one moment stands out the most, the black out before my soliloquy. Its a memory which feels like it’s coated in velvet, a period of time so short but full of such gravity.The light would fade out and a transitional song of choir humming would play. The theatre would be so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and in the back of my mind I would know the next five minutes of the show relied only on me. It’s a feeling which can turn people away from theatre and ignite stage fright in most, yet for me it brought a strange sense of comfort. As I walk on in the darkness and kneel center stage, the only thing on my mind is the crown on my head and the silence surrounding me. That one pause which was of no relevance to the audience, jumps out to me when I look back. Those minuscule moments are why I perform and why the stage serves as my second home. I savored that moment every performance and it never lost its spark, and as I look back on it I realize it never will.

— Catherine Raymond, Providence, Rhode Island

The one moment that stands out the most for me was the morning of July 26, my birthday.

The morning started off as usual, I woke up early, made my breakfast, took a shower and sat in bed waiting for the time to come to leave the house for whatever plans I have. Throughout this process I was receiving calls to wish me a good birthday. After a bit of sitting, I got ready to go have a picnic with a good friend. We picked a spot, and began out book club. I took breaks while reading and laid there and took in the scenery. While I looked up, I remember feeling the relaxing aura from us both laying there, the wind cooling the hot summer day and the sun shining through the leaves. The sky was partly cloudy, I would look through the leaves and just enjoy being there. Something about being around a person who you trust and care for and nature showing off its beauty made for a very memorable start to the best birthday I’ve had.

— Imanol Sanchez, Classical High School

I have always been afraid of the water but this year it was my year to get over that fear. It started with me asking to hangout at my best friend house where we would spend time in pool where I eventually started jumping without a life jacket. To heading to the theme park and having fun at the wave pool. I knew I got over my fear when after 3 years the first time I was able to kneeboard and had a fantastic time. I did not feel afraid anymore this summer I really felt that I move from I can’t do this to I will do this. And I did do it.

— Nate R, Toronto

Film Club: ‘Where Are All the Bob Ross Paintings? We Found Them.’

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Film Club: ‘Where Are All the Bob Ross Paintings? We Found Them.’

Find all our Film Club films here.

What makes someone a cultural icon?

“Where Are All the Bob Ross Paintings? We Found Them” is an 11-minute film that touches on themes of creativity and fame, with a touch of mystery. It profiles Bob Ross — famous for his perm, personality, landscapes and soothing voice — as a team of New York Times reporters try to solve one of the internet’s favorite little mysteries: Where are his more than 1,000 paintings from his television show?

Students

1. Watch the short film above. While you watch, you might take notes using our Film Club Double-Entry Journal (PDF) to help you remember specific moments.

2. After watching, think about these questions:

  • What questions do you still have?

  • What connections can you make between this film and your own life or experience? Why? Does this film remind you of anything else you’ve read or seen? If so, how and why?

3. An additional challenge | Respond to the essential question at the top of this post: What makes someone a cultural icon?

4. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)

5. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.

6. To learn more, read “Where Are All the Bob Ross Paintings? We Found Them.” Larry Buchanan, Aaron Byrd, Alicia DeSantis and Emily Rhyne answer over a dozen questions about Bob Ross, including: What’s the story with the hair?

According to Annette Kowalski, Mr. Ross originally chose to perm his hair because it was cheaper than getting frequent haircuts.

Later, she said, he disliked the hairstyle but did not feel he could change it because it was depicted in the company logo

More?

• See all the films in this series.

• Read our list of practical teaching ideas, along with responses from students and teachers, for how you can use these documentaries in the classroom.

• Want to make sure you never miss a film? Add Film Club to your Google calendar to receive weekly reminders and see our full publishing schedule for the 2019-20 school year.

Sign Up for Our Free Webinar on Teaching With Intriguing Photographs

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Sign Up for Our Free Webinar on Teaching With Intriguing Photographs

Imagine a free teaching activity that:

  • Is fun for students of all ages and used by teachers across disciplines

  • Can serve as a bell-ringer, a homework assignment or the focus of a lesson plan

  • Helps students get better at observing closely, making arguments and using evidence to support their claims

Welcome to “What’s Going On in This Picture?,” our popular weekly feature now in its eighth year.

Here’s how it works: Each Monday we post an intriguing photograph that has been stripped of its caption and other identifying information. Then, students from around the world join a live-moderated discussion, telling us what they notice and what conclusions they can draw from those observations. The conversation continues all week, often attracting over a thousand comments, until we post a “reveal” on Thursday afternoons.

[Register for the webinar here.]

In this free hourlong webinar, we’ll discuss a variety of ways to use “What’s Going On in This Picture?” in subjects from science to social studies, English to the arts, and we’ll participate together in our own live “WGOITP?” activity. We’ll be joined by teachers who use the feature, as well as moderators from our partner organization, Visual Thinking Strategies, who run the live-moderated Monday discussions.

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