Activities & Days Out / 13 May, 2024 / Nanny Anita

“1 2 Double I Do..” Rhyme For When To Double The Last Letter

When I was at school, I wish that there had been more little sayings to help remember spelling rules.  The only one I knew was, “i before e, except after c.”  Now that I am older, I keep coming across new ones that I now use with my charges.  The one that I will be sharing today is “1 2 double I do, 1 2 3 no doubling for me”.

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So, what is this ~1 2 double I do, 1 2 3 no doubling for me” for?  Well, it is to help children learn when they need to double the last letter of a word before adding an ending like ing, er, or ed.

Take a word that you want to add ed, ing, or ed to and look to the last vowel eg the word run.  I start at the U and count on to the end.  In this instance there are only 2 letters; the U and the N, so I double the last letter before adding the ending.  Which would mean you would get running/runner.

Let’s take another word – talk.  If I count on from the A it would be 3 (the A, L, and K), so I wouldn’t double the last letter.  It would be talking/talked.

There are other rules that you can remember for when you double the last letter.

1. The word should be one syllable.
2. Have a short vowel sound.
3. End in a consonant.

Which is great to remember, but the rhyme is easier to remember, at least it is for me as a dyslexic.

Before leaving you with this, let’s have a look at just one more word – scream.  Looking at those 3 rules, it only fits 2 of them.  It is one syllable and ends in a consonant.  However, if you use the rhyme and start at the E (because that is the beginning of the vowel sound) then you would get to 3.  Which means no need to double to m.

Hopefully, this little trick will help your little ones with their spellings.

If you liked this “1 2 double I do, 1 2 3 no doubling for me” then be sure to check out my homemade boggle game and phonic finder game.

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