If your second graders delight in listening to music, tie it into your morning routine. Start each morning off with a different song, selecting music ranging from oldies to contemporary hits. When students arrive in class, give them index cards and, as they listen to the selected song, ask them to jot down a few sentences with their thoughts about the music. After they finish, take a few minutes and allow your students to share these written pieces with the class.
If your students are visual learners, photo journal entries could be the perfect way to start your day. Gather an assortment of interesting images and give your students a copy of a new one each day. Save images from the newspaper, find images in books or select historically significant photos for your entries. Ask students to explain what they think each photo shows and how the image connects to their lives.
Gather information on your students' opinions and take attendance at the same time with this simple morning activity. To prepare, write your students' names on clothes pins and place them in a basket. Create a board with sheet of corrugated cardboard divided down the middle with a thick line, and attach a string to hang it up. Before students arrive each day, write out a question with two potential responses and attach it to the top of the board. Place a slip of paper with one of the options on one half of the board and the second option on the other. When students arrive, ask them to go to the board and place their clothes pins along the edge of the board to represent their choice. For example, you might pose the question, "Do you prefer cookies or ice cream?" By looking at the board, you can easily determine not only which option is most popular, but also who is absent by inspecting the pins still in the basket.
Start your morning out with a mental challenge for your students. Create a short worksheet for your students featuring five questions on topics covered the previous day. Give students the worksheets when they first walk in to class in the morning. Offer students a small reward, such as five minutes of extra recess, if they get a certain number of the questions correct.