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Second Grade | Elizabeth Dillow
11 x 8.5 | materials patterned paper (Adornit Carolee’s Creations) + letter sticker (Sonburn Designs) + fabric label (Little Yellow Bicycle) + rub-ons (American Crafts, Making Memories) + font (PraterScript Regular)
A Note From Elizabeth
As usual, I started out with a much different plan than I ended up with when I made this page (the same day the photo was taken, which is quite a feat for me!) My original plan was to make a list of all the second grade memories Matt and I have so Maddie could read them, but I started thinking about cursive and it just took over the journaling. Let yourself be flexible—you might end up with an idea you like even better than the original plan! Another note: Matt caught a mistake in my journaling; he would like it to be known that while he did live in Berlin when he was little, in second grade his dad was assigned to a base in Neubrücke, Germany. I’ll work on fixing that later…
Journaling
Daddy and I both have such clear memories of second grade. It was the year I met my first favorite teacher, Mrs. Starner, who taught me, among other things, to love writing—not only creative writing, but the art of forming the letters. My love of handwriting (and later, typography and design) can be traced back to Room 19. I loved how she signed her name Mrs. ☆ner; I loved how words looked so much cooler when a few decorative touches were added. I know I learned important things about more important subjects, too, but this small thing—making words and other things look beautiful—is a lesson that I cherish to this day.
Like you, Daddy started second grade in a new school. Not once, but twice: the first half of the year in Aurora, CO and the second half of the year in Berlin, Germany. Coincidentally, Daddy also has handwriting memories from second grade. His class in Aurora learned cursive after he moved to Germany, but his class in Germany learned cursive before he arrived. He basically taught himself how to write using worksheets with dotted lines and his best guess about how the letters were to be formed. If you watch him write, you’ll see his special, er, unique method of writing still in practice today. No one writes like Daddy.
But isn’t that the point? That in second grade, you become who you will be? I think so.