Firefly Ed

Start Here: Placement Check – English Lessons – Grade 2 | Firefly Ed

In this page – Start Here: Placement Check | Grade 2 English

Placement check | About 20 minutes

For the adult: this is a worksheet page. Work on paper next to the screen, or print this page. Printable PDFs are free to download after you subscribe.

This check uses skills from the end of Grade 1. It shows whether a child is ready to start the Grade 2 English book, or would benefit from reviewing some Grade 1 lessons first. It is not a test to pass or fail.

How to use this check

For the adult: do the four parts in one sitting, or over two days. Read the instructions aloud, but do not help with the answers. Use the answer key to score each part, then read the guide at the end.

Part 1: Phonics (8 points)

1. Read these words aloud. For the adult: give 1 point for each word read correctly, up to 4 points.

ship train night stamp

2. Write the words. For the adult: say each word twice. Give 1 point for each word spelt correctly, up to 4 points. Words: cake, boat, chips, jumped.

1. ______________ 2. ______________ 3. ______________ 4. ______________

Part 2: Reading (6 points)

3. Read the story.

The Lost Kite

On a windy Saturday, Leo took his red kite to the park. It flew up high above the trees. Then a strong gust of wind pulled the string out of his hand. The kite flew away over the pond.

Leo was upset. He ran around the pond, but he could not see his kite anywhere.

Then he heard a voice. “Is this yours?” It was an old man with a dog. The kite was stuck in a bush, and the man had pulled it out.

“Thank you!” said Leo, with a big smile. That afternoon, he held the string very tightly.

a) Where did Leo go with his kite? ______________________________ (1 point)

b) What made the kite fly away? ______________________________ (1 point)

c) How did Leo feel when he lost his kite? ______________ (1 point)

d) Where was the kite? ______________________________ (1 point)

e) Why did Leo hold the string very tightly that afternoon? ______________________________ (2 points)

Part 3: Writing (6 points)

4. Write three sentences about your favourite place. Say what it is, what you do there and why you like it.

__________________________________________________________________

For the adult: give 1 point for each of these.

☐ capital letters at the start ☐ full stops at the end ☐ three sentences that make sense ☐ a joining word, such as and or because ☐ a describing word ☐ most common words spelt correctly

Part 4: Speaking and listening (4 points)

5. Follow the instructions. For the adult: say this once: “Touch your nose, then clap three times, then stand up.” Give 1 point if the learner does all three in order.

6. Tell me about it. For the adult: ask the learner to tell you about something they did last weekend for about 30 seconds. Then ask one question about it.

☐ spoke clearly in sentences ☐ told things in order ☐ answered the question in a full sentence

Give 1 point for each box ticked.

Answer Key and Scores

Reveal Answers

Part 1: Phonics
1. ship, train, night, stamp (1 point each)
2. cake, boat, chips, jumped (1 point each)

Part 2: Reading
a) to the park
b) a strong gust of wind
c) upset (accept sad or worried)
d) stuck in a bush
e) So that the wind would not pull the kite away again. (2 points for a clear reason that links to what happened; 1 point for a partial answer)

Part 3 and Part 4: use the tick boxes.

Total: ______ out of 24

Where to start

Score	What it means	Where to start
18 to 24	Ready for Grade 2.	Start at Chapter 1: Growing and Changing.
12 to 17	Nearly ready. Some Grade 1 skills need a little more practice.	Start Grade 2 Chapter 1, and look at the part with the lowest score. Practise those skills with the matching Grade 1 lessons alongside.
0 to 11	Some Grade 1 skills are not secure yet.	Review the Grade 1 lessons first, starting with the part with the lowest score. You can find them on the Grade 1 English index page. Then try this check again.

If one part is much lower than the others:

Phonics: practise the Grade 1 phonics lessons, especially vowel teams such as ai, oa and igh.
Reading: read short stories together every day and ask who, where, why and how questions.
Writing: practise writing two or three sentences a day, with capital letters and full stops.
Speaking and listening: play games that follow instructions, and talk about the day at dinner time.

Read How to Use This Book for a guide to the lessons and how to plan the year.

All Grade 2 English chapters and lessons | Download lesson PDFs

© 2026 Firefly Ed. All rights reserved. This page may be printed for personal, home and classroom use. It may not be sold, shared online or reproduced for commercial use without written permission. edfirefly.com

Share your thoughts or ask something..Cancel reply

Recent Articles - Visit 'Deep Dive' for more.

Significance Of The Gap Year | How It Can Produce Growth & Opportunity
Gap year takers consistently report gains in self-understanding and independence. The evidence on academic and career outcomes is far more mixed than gap year marketing suggests. What a gap year produces, where the benefits are most and least reliable, and what separates a productive year from a wasted one.
Drawing and Scribbling as Pre-Writing | How Scribbles Build Grip and Meaning
Long before children write a single letter, scribbling and drawing build the hand strength for a steady pencil grip, the understanding that a mark can stand for something else, and the left-to-right habits writing depends on. Skip these stages and letters may start earlier, but grip and control lag behind, leaving young learners fighting the pencil instead of using it to write.
The Brain Training Myth | Why Gains on an App Rarely Transfer to Other Skills
Brain-training apps promise sharper memory, better focus, and even a higher IQ from short daily games. Large trials find learners improve only at the specific games they practice, with little spread to reading, math, or attention in the classroom. The pattern holds across children and adults, and across nearly every program tested at scale.
Emotional Vocabulary in Children | Why Naming a Feeling Changes It
Emotional vocabulary in children means having specific words for feelings beyond good and bad, not just mad or sad. Naming a feeling measurably lowers activity in the brain's alarm center, and a wider vocabulary predicts stronger social skills and academic performance years later. The calming effect continues into adulthood, too.
Spatial Reasoning in Children | Why It Predicts Math Before Numbers Do
Spatial reasoning in children means mentally rotating, comparing, and fitting shapes and objects together. It tracks with math achievement years later, starting in infancy and continuing through school, and predicts performance across arithmetic, geometry, and word problems, independent of general intelligence. Training it directly improves math scores, and blocks work better than screens.
Phonological Awareness in Children | Why It Predicts Reading Before Letters Do
Phonological awareness in children means noticing and playing with the sound structure of spoken words, separate from knowing letters. It shows up before formal reading instruction starts, and it predicts how that instruction will go better than almost anything else measured when a learner starts school. It grows entirely through spoken play.